Two by Sendak: In the Night Kitchen and Chicken Soup With Rice. Maurice Sendak had the gift of remembering what it’s like to be child, and so to know what kind of story appeals to children – not the ones concocted by authors with M. Ed degrees anxious to teach both reading and suitable life lessons. Sendak also knew how to make his pictures not merely illustrations but integral parts of the story.
In the Night Kitchen tells a dream, in which Mickey falls into the kitchen under his house, where the bakers are busy baking bread and rolls. The bakers look remarkably like Oliver Hardy, and make a Mickey cake, from which he escapes. Chicken Soup With Rice praises that estimable dish in verses that tell us how it suits each month of the year. Well done, very good for beginning readers. Fantasy, clever rhymes, surprising ideas, what more could one want? ****
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