In the Night Kitchen

Written & illustrated by Maurice Sendak

A boy's dream leads to a daring escape from bakers in a magical kitchen.

4.0/7 Bookroo experts·4.0/5 Goodreads · 19,187 ratings

40 pages· 329 words· Est. 3 min read-aloud

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Bookroo's summary

Mickey finds himself in a whimsical night kitchen where bakers need milk for their cake. When he accidentally falls into the batter, they plan to bake him, but Mickey has other ideas. Crafting a plane from bread dough, he embarks on a daring escape to find the missing milk. Will Mickey's imaginative journey save the day and the cake? Dive into this dreamlike adventure where the boundaries of reality and fantasy blur, celebrating the boundless creativity of childhood.

From the publisher

From the acclaimed author-artist Maurice Sendak comes a Caldecott Honor-winning tale of a fantastical dream world. This comic fantasy will delight readers of all ages with playful illustrations and an imaginative world only Sendak could create.

In the Night Kitchen is the classic story of Mickey’s adventures in the bakers’ kitchen as they prepare our morning cake. “Milk in the batter! Milk in the batter! We bake cake and nothing’s the matter!” the bakers sing.

The bakers in the night kitchen need more milk for their batter, but then Mickey falls into the cake! They decide to put him in the oven anyway, but Mickey has different plans. He escapes in a plane made of bread dough and helps the bakers find the milk at last.

Awards

Caldecott Honor (1971)

At a glance

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 40
Words: 329
Reading age: 4–8
Audience: Picture
Lexile: AD480L

Themes & topics

Books about New York Books about bedtime and dreams Books about baking Books about dreams Books about childhood imagination

What readers & critics say

Reviews

4.0

out of 7

4.0

“Note: This book contains naked little boy pictures.”

Mom of Boys

Trusted reviewer

4.0

“I realize that this is a classic by an absolutely stupendous creative, but this is just not one of my favorites. The illustrations are great (as long as you aren't affronted by frontal nudity on a little boy), but the whole story just seems random and a little bit weird to me after revisiting from my childhood.”

Marmee

Trusted reviewer

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