Identify This Children's Book

October 14, 2012 11:30 PM

I need help identifying a children's book that may have been illustrated by someone whose style was similar to that of Maurice Sendak, Audrey Wood, and even Tomie dePaola.

From what I remember, the book featured a town made up entirely of children and at night they all fly through the town with bottles of milk to bake some kind of cake or dessert or pudding. It's a very cute dream sequence type thing and for the life of me I cannot think of who did it or what it was called. I feel like it was light on text. Anybody have a clue? Fairly certain it's by an American author. Could be wrong. I'd say it's of the same vintage as Where the Wild Things Are.

posted by These Birds of a Feather to grab bag (6 answers total)

Sounds like In The Night Kitchen, by Sendak (1971)
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:36 PM on October 14, 2012

Rats, I should have mentioned -- it is decidedly not In the Night Kitchen. The story definitely involves a town full of children who come out in their pajamas to participate in this cooking sequence.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:39 PM on October 14, 2012

Any chance that it is Sendak's We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy? There is a shantytown of children, a scene flying through the air with a giant cat/the moon, and a scene in a bakery (though not of baking there).
posted by redfoxtail at 6:44 AM on October 15, 2012

This sounds like a Tomie dePaola book, one of the Strega Nona ones?
posted by zippy at 2:57 PM on October 15, 2012

No, it looks a LOT like it was a Sendak story. Same desaturated colors, full page illustrations. I am gonna see if I can thumb through some of his books at a B&N
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 4:26 PM on October 15, 2012

No luck. The thing that makes me think it was Sendak-esque is that all the characters in the pictures had sort of big, barefoot feet and they all carried these big glass bottles of milk. There are scenes where some of the kids are actually leaping off their rooftops to get flying. They are baking or cooking outside.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:55 PM on October 15, 2012