6 Tasty Picture Books About Doughnuts
Glazed, cake, cruller, old-fashioned, jelly-filled, cream-filled, Boston cream, fritters, and even cronuts—the varieties of delicious doughnuts are as seemingly endless as the round shape of the tasty treat itself. So while you mull over sprinkles or frosted, we’ve come up with a delectable list of some of our favorite books featuring those heavenly pieces of sweetness. Just try not to drool on the pages.
Please, Mr. Panda, by Steve Antony
“Would you like a doughnut?” Mr. Panda asks his animal pals in this delightfully simple and sweetly illustrated story. And the obvious answer to this question is a resounding, “YES!” But there’s a right way to accept Mr. Panda’s offer, and only one of his friends knows it. A fun book for teaching the importance of magic words like “please” and “thank you,” because—hello!—sometimes politeness leads to doughnuts.
If You Give a Dog a Donut, by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond
If you give us a doughnut, we’re going to want about a dozen more doughnuts. But apparently if you offer one to a dog, he’s going to want apple juice and a whole slew of other things in this fun If You Give a … book. And if you read this book to your kids, you’re probably going to want a doughnut—or 12.
The Donut Chef, by Bob Staake
A chef has come to town to bestow his tasty baked goods on the masses, and soon he has a line out the door. But when competition moves in, the doughnut business gets a little, um, nutty in this rhyming tale with doughnuts that are “quite bizarre, like Cherry-Frosted Lemon Bar, and Peanut-Brickle Buttermilk, or Gooey Coca-Mocha Silk!” Until one day, a kid comes through the door and her request knocks chef on the floor—she just wants glazed. A sweet story about keeping it simple.
Who Needs Donuts?, by Mark Alan Stamaty
Who needs doughnuts? We do! And you will too after reading this classic from 1973 about a boy named Sam who heads to the big city in search of the titular treat. The tale is totally absurd, and the detailed black-and-white illustrations are like a zany game of Where’s Waldo?. And there’s the sweet moral of the story: Who needs doughnuts when you have love? (Though frankly, we’d beg to differ.)
Doughnuts for a Dragon, by Adam Guillain, Charlotte Guillain, and Lee Wildish
Our young explorer George is on a dragon quest, and he has exactly what he needs to find one: a time machine and doughnuts (along with some other sweet treats). Along the way, he finds a princess, a witch, and an ogre who wants to make George his dinner, hence the need for the baked goods. Kids will enjoy the colorful illustrations and rhyming story as they search alongside George for a doughnut-eating dragon.
The Case of the Missing Donut, by Alison McGhee and Isabel Roxas
The (kid) sheriff and his (dog) deputy are on a mission—bring a dozen doughnuts home safely. But when the sheriff checks on the baked goods, he sees that one is “a little smushed” and tries nibbling it just to even it out. And then all of the evening it out leads to “UH-OH. DONUT DOWN!” Now suddenly the sheriff finds himself on the wrong side of the law—the sweet side, sure, but the wrong side nonetheless. But will he be found out?
What’s your favorite kind of doughnut (or book about doughnuts)?