"The Nakie Book", otherwise known as In the Night Kitchen

What I researched and why:

Maurice Sendak has gained a certain amount of acclaim in the theatrical world over the years. He is a set designer as well as a children's book writer, and he recently published an opera in conjunction with Tony Kushner (aclaimed writer of Angels in America) titled Brunidbar. Along with these successes he has published several more children's book, one of noteable mention is In the Night Kitchen. My first experience with In the Night Kitchen did not come through direct research of Sendak, but from when I was teaching preschool two years ago; it was a book that had found its way onto the shelf in my classroom. But the funniest thing about In the Night Kitchen was that it was notoriously known among my three to five year-old students as "The Nakie Book." Why was this? Because on the third page, Mickey, the main character of the book, gets naked in the picture and his genitals are very well illustrated. The interesting thing that I remember in retrospect, is that the part about Mickey getting naked was a very integral part to the children's narrative of the story. I remember watching a five year-old student give a pictoral reading of "The Nakie Book" to a three year-old. His retelling of it went something like, "...And then the boy wakes up, and then he gets naked, and then he floats through the window...". Mickey taking his clothing off is lightly mentioned in the textual narrative as, "...And fell through the dark, out of his clothes...". Why was this part about Mickey taking his clothing off such an important and definitive part of the story to the children? Did they just find it funny that they could see his "wee-wee"? Did it somehow represent some sort of control or comfort with their own bodies?

What I found:

I found it interesting in class that we discussed how Sendak uses his books to help children cope with nightmares, because this book was set directly within the child's dream world. Because of Mickey's nakedness and Sendak's reactionary history with Where the Wild Things Are, I was sure that this other book was received with much controversy. I found a link on the internet that describes some librarians approaches to dealing with Mickey's nakedness. Some magic marker shorts onto his body. Some scotch taped white diapers onto him. The article even discussed some freudian interpretations of the book suggesting that the giant white bottle of milk Mickey takes a swim in is a phallic symbol, and thus, a story about masturbation. I checked out In the Night Kitchen from the library yesterday and will be sure to bring it to class to pass around. Attached is also a link to the discussion I found about the book's controversial reception and successes. The sixth and seventh paragraphs concern information about In the Night Kitchen specifically, but the rest of the essay is very interesting as well.

http://www.nndb.com/people/275/000023206/

My Interpretation:

I personally, did not suffer any anxiety about the content of Sendak's book when it was being passed among my students during reading time. I actually found it quite funny how they were all so amused with it. As I saw it, the children didn't really know any different about their bodies, we as the teachers were just trying to teach them simple things, like to flush the toilets and wash their hands, etc. That's all I really feel it is with socializing children about their bodies, I don't believe they have any serious sexual understandings at so young an age. I found the interpretation for the story about masturbation to be just an absurd theory. When Mickey gets thrown into the batter he makes himself a snow-suit out of dough, so he isn't naked for the entire book. And all children drink milk while growing up, I didn't see why the bottle of milk had to have denotations concerning bodily fluids. Mickey dresses himself in the batter half-way through the dream, and I believe this represents him having a certain comfort in his dreams. I'm really excited for the class to get a look at the story tomorrow, it's a great book.

What this contributes to our Discussion:

A further example of Sendak's unique and original approach to story-telling through children's literature. The book helps children cope with nightmares such as those similar to hansel-and-gretel images of being baked in an oven, and having control over one's own dreams (like when Mickey builds a plane out of dough and flies away in it). This is comparable to Max having the ability to tame the Wild Things. Some images that adults would expect to be frightening or unsettling to children has delighted them instead.