In The Night Kitchen

I don't remember much about my childhood, especially with reading. I was the active kid in the class who could barely stay in her seat, and reading was not a specialty of mine. Running outside, flipping in the yard, and playing hockey with my brothers was more of an interest and thrill to me. The first memory I have of reading was sitting next to my mom as my little brother sat on her lap and reading books we both agreed on before bed. I can remember the smells from the bath and the aches from playing outside all day as we curled up and always agreed on "In the Night Kitchen."

At first I couldn't read it, but I caught on to the words as we read it over and over again. The story follows a little boy who escapes his bed and travels into the kitchen that comes alive during the night preparing the bread for the morning. Everything in the kitchen, including the chefs, grew in size, causing the boy to be the smallest object in the kitchen. The pictures caught Jesse's and mine eyes as the boy is tossed in the dough, creates an airplane, and is dumped into the milk before reaching the oven to bake. The most vivid part happens here where the dough is stripped from the milk, causing the little boy to appear naked to the reader. I remember my brother and I giggling as mom read cheering, "cock a doodle do!" as the little boy sees the sun rising.

These were the moments that I remember from my childhood and reading that stand out because of the calming sensation we would finally feel and the bonding moments happening. To this day, my brother and I talk about the book and how we loved falling asleep to the idea of sneaking into a kitchen baking bread and swimming in a glass bottle of milk. Eventually, I caught on to how reading pulls me into another world where I didn't have to be in reality, and novels became important and enjoyable. But for awhile, energy took over the attention to sit and read, except for at night, and especially with "In The Night Kitchen."