What Parents Should Know
The skills and qualities of patience, free thinking, and
attentiveness are conveyed through the medium of dreams and
imagination, but readers will have to dig for the
connections.
Sendak's writing has a poetic patter to it, and the stories are odd, demanding, and appealing in their quirkiness. Readers must engage here, rather than be passive. The art--frail, dreamy drawings--is more relief than destination.
Common Sense Media Review
This is a challenging book from Sendak, one that really
makes the reader think, whether one reads it alone or aloud.
The questions posed by the rooster require latitude in
thinking, but equally require a fairly specific answer.
For instance, one of the questions is, "Can you see a horse on the roof?" You better believe that Kenny does, one as magical as a unicorn and as earthly as a refugee. Kenny delights in the horse, and they exchange funny stories, such as, "The horse on the roof makes a silly face and I make one back." But the lesson that Kenny draws from this is, "If you know how to listen in the night."
This releases a flood tide of questions about perception and imagination. It can also release the dreaded "whatever" response--as emphatic as "boring!"--such as it did from a group of seven-year-old students who were discussing the book.
The artwork has a similarly fugitive quality, as wistful as a painting by Chagall but without the color to command attention. Perfect for the book, if not a crutch for those who need something to keep them going.
Check Sendak's other titles, such as Higglety Pigglety Pop! and Outside Over There, for further cognitive workouts, or try William Maine's A Year and a Day.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
