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| Three "rabbis" on the set of Angels in America: Tony Kushner, Meryl Streep and Maurice Sendak |
My kids grew up on Maurice Sendak's books. I can't count how many bedtimes there were when we cuddled up and read one of them - Pierre, Chicken Soup with Rice, One Was Johnny, Alligators All Around, Where the Wild Things Are...all wonderful books...but In the Night Kitchen was the one that really got to us. So strange and wonderful, so many buildings shaped like things that we could find in the kitchen - cartons of milk and lemon squeezers and nutcrackers...and up in the sky, that wonderful moon, and little naked Mickey floating around "past the moon and his mama and papa sleeping tight and into the light of the night kitchen." Now my grandson and I are sharing that book and loving it. Pure magic.
Here's one of Sendak's poems set to music by Carole King. Sendak was a grump and a curmudgeon and a tortured soul with a wild imagination; he was brilliant and we couldn't get enough of him; he'll be missed.
The Poetry Friday round-up is being hosted by Irene Latham at her blog LIVE YOUR POEM. Head over there to see what other people are posting.
Hi Julie! I posted my favorite month from Chicken Soup With Rice at my library blog! It is such a fun book! Thanks for the musical version.
ReplyDeleteOh yes -- In the Night Kitchen! Chicken Soup with Rice! Right up there at the top of my list. Still can't believe he's really gone.
ReplyDeleteI posted about Sendak as well, Julie...what an extraordinary gif he was!
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed reading everyone's memories of Sendak books this week. I confess I don't ever remember reading a single one until I was an adult thinking of writing for kids. I might have read some, since I read voraciously, but if so, they've flown out of my head...
ReplyDeleteHe was a gem, and we were lucky to have him!
ReplyDeleteJet
Hi there Julie. In the Night Kitchen is also a personal favorite of mine. I didn't know that Maurice Sendak was part of Angels in America, my favorite tv series of all time! Now, I'd have to dig up my copy and watch it all over again. Thanks for sharing this. :)
ReplyDeleteStill have and still love my Nutshell Library of Sendak books, and my copy of Where the Wild Things Are in German.
ReplyDeleteSendak was a genius.
Thanks for posting this video! My son and I watched it together and enjoyed it a lot, and then we watched "Pierre," which came up next on YouTube. Maurice Sendak gave us some wonderful books!
ReplyDeleteJulie, I have an tattered copy of In the Night Kitchen that I remember adoring as a child. My favorite to read to my sons was Where the Wild Things Are. I'm still mad that Hollywood kind of ruined it for me with that movie (which, obviously, I did not like). Thanks for sharing the video.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these memories. I had forgotten about that Carole King song. She was a favorite, as well, back in my teenage years. I still pull out my copy of In the Night Kitchen just to reread to myself.
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