Then came Jackson's letter to the School Library Journal.

Editors at both Children's Catalog and Elementary School Library Collection recommended the work for core collections, and other publications also endorsed the book for purchase by school librarians. He undoubtedly blew of New York Times critic Saul Braun's assertion that In the Night Kitchen was 'sure to offend.' And school librarians weren't turned off, either. But such a choice shouldn't have surprised anyone Sendak was constantly exploring limits-and ignoring them. Sendak made a somewhat unusual decision when he portrayed Mickey, the protagonist of In the Night Kitchen completely nude. It's no wonder that he would again push the envelope the following year, with In the Night Kitchen. And Sendak himself cared little for the negative press anyway. His books were frequently recommended for purchase in library journals. He'd won five Caldecott Honors and a Caldecott Medal.

By this time, he was already critically acclaimed. Nevertheless, Where the Wild Things Are catapulted Sendak to international fame, which gave him new freedom as an artist. Bettelheim later admitted, however, that he had read only a summary of the book. Meanwhile the Journal of Nursery Education offered an editorial opinion of the book in September, 1964: 'We should not like to have it left about where a sensitive child might find it to pore over in the twilight.' The combination is the worst desertion that can threaten a child. To be sent to bed alone is one desertion, and without food is second desertion.

Moreover, child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim told Ladies Home Journal in March, 1969, 'The basic anxiety of a child is desertion. When the Caldecott Medal-winning Where the Wild Things Are was published in 1960, critics feared that the book was too frightening for children. This was not the first time that Maurice Sendak had ignited controversy. But negative reactions to the book were later overblown by the press. Though the letter was published unedited, the journal's editorial staff placed it under the headline 'Three-Cornered Censorship' and opposite a half-page illustration of the 'Cock-a-Doodle-Doo' image from Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen. In this iconic picture, the story's protagonist, Mickey, is depicted au naturel, which is why the book had raised eyebrows at Jackson's library-and in plenty of other places around the country.

Jackson in the December, 1971 issue of School Library Journal. So ran the entire letter from Caldwell, Louisiana librarian Betty B. Other librarians might wish to do the same.' 'Maurice Sendak might faint but a staff member of Caldwell Parish Library, knowing that the patrons of the community might object to the illustrations of The Night Kitchen, solved the problem by diapering the little boys with white tempera paint.

In the night kitchen pictures