IN THE NIGHT KITCHEN
Maurice Sendak
Published by harper Collins, H/B $35.00, local P/B $20.00

Winner of the prestigious Caldecott medal for illustrated childrens’ books, twenty fifth anniversary edition In search of books for children that relate to food and cooking it was astonishing to find the favourite Mem Fox’s Grandma Poss’ Cookbook is out of print. That astonishment led to a conversation with a young friend who is food obsessed. Marian agreed it was a good book, but volunteered her favourite In The Night Kitchen and followed through with the offer to lend her precious childhood copy. Her descriptions of the images were so wonderful that it was a surprise to find them even more charming than she had inferred. More of a surprise was that this book was first published in 1970 and wonderfully remains in print in 2008. The longevity of publication of In the night kitchen says it all. The illustrations are simply gorgeous and the text remains funny and fun almost 40 years after it was written. As a graphic artist in a former life particularly striking is ’Lettering by Diana Blair’. A bygone age that makes the production even more wonderful.
Restrained (physically) from further denting the credit card by buying a first edition (there are some on line) we have loyally ordered two from our local bookseller and hope we are all responsible for helping to keep this lovely book in print by giving it as a gift to all the annoying little people we know.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Story and pictures by Maurice Sendak Published by The Bodley Head, H/B $39.95 Maurice Sendak is a genius. ’In the Midnight Kitchen’ and ’Where the wild things are’ don’t quite out sell ’Walter the farting dog’ (God forbid) but they come damned close and so they should. Sendak’s illustrations are absolutely brilliant; that single line, the twist of a mouth that is scornful, happy, naughty, and mischievous and then the ’wild things’ are scary but cheeky. This book grasps the nightmare that is not too scary but there is always a sense of relief when you wake up and find it isn’t real. You can be three or 103 but it would be a sad heart that doesn’t fall in love with Sendak’s books. AO

MAX AND THE TRUFFLE PIG
Written and illustrated by Judith G. Brown
Abingdon Press, appears to be out of print but there are a few copies available for about $20AUD on line 1963 edition if you can get it

It is appalling that books like this are allowed to slip under the radar and fall out of print. Gorgeous illustrations and a sweet story and so relevant since Australian children will grow up for the first time knowing the significance of truffle and the relationship between truffle hunter and their pig or dog. This is a story about food and markets and that friendship between humans and their friends from the animal kingdom, but most of all it is a story about how we fall in love with food.
“After dinner,” said Monsieur Gerard, rubbing his hands with delight, “we will bring to the table on a crystal platter a great chocolate cake. It will be twenty-three layers high, and each layer will be filled with real truffles. ” Now there’s a thought instead of that horrible truffle ice cream chefs waste their truffles on, when a clove of garlic could achieve the same appalling result. The story is the journey of Max and Suzette the truffle pig and how she finally learned to hunt for truffles. Help introduce this charming little book to new generations and by creating a demand keep it in print. AO

THE MAGIC PUDDING
Norman Lindsay
There is an applaling in–print P/B edition by Dodo Press that doesn’t have Linsday’s suberb images on the cover. We recommend a second hand edition and there are a number of apparently good copies available on line.

This is a magical Australian romp, but rereading it after many years we had to wonder whether we should put this review in the grown ups section of our book reviews or where we have placed it. After some thought we decided that it is a book to be read to little children and read by bigger ones (including adults). It remains one of our favourite children’s book with a very gorgeous Australian theme.The illustrations are utterly brilliant and the fun text and poetry follows closely behind their excellence.