The first of three finds in the literal bin full of books at the Goodwill we went to yesterday looking for teacups for my fiancee’s bridal shower. Having always loved Where the Wild Things Are, both the book and the movie, I picked this up based almost entirely upon the Sendak name. That and the illustrations, which were apparently influenced by the Little Nemo comics, per Sendak himself. Had I flipped through the book more while I was still at the Goodwill, I would’ve seen why it was probably there in the first place: full-frontal child nudity. Others on review sites have spoken of things such as librarians taking a pen to the offending areas to censor them, and the book as a whole has reportedly been challenged rather frequently. Why? Not just the nudity. People have sex way too much on the brain, thinking the bottle of milk is a phallic symbol, the milk is an innuendo, etc. I honestly wonder if certain people spend the entirety of their days trying to make up things to be outraged about.
It’s a little peculiar that Sendak felt the need to have the main character get naked multiple times and show him in all his glory so much, but that’s as far as I’ll go. If people can be okay with the Nevermind album cover, this should be nothing in comparison. It’s a silly little story about night bakers trying to bake a cake, almost baking him into a cake, him fashioning a plane out of bread, and flying it up to a milk bottle to get them the milk they need to finish the cake they’re making for in the morning. It’s written for children; kids won’t care if they see an illustrated dingaling. They’re liable to strip all their own clothes off and run around just as naked as Mickey does here at a moment’s notice. And reading anything more into it is simply outlandish. Some people need to get a life, simple as that.
