Vincent X. Kirsch’s bright and colorful illustrations are perfect for The Hole Story of the Doughnut. Today’s doughnuts are bright and beautiful and food dye sugar laden but the reality of the timeframe when Hanson Crockett Gregory really invented the doughnut were probably a bit darker and more muted in palette. Nonetheless, I think the bright and cartoonish illustration style will draw young readers in to the story of an unlikely seafarer’s invention. Fans of Arnie the Doughnut will no doubt love the endpapers. The design choices including nautical rope surrounding the summary and about the author section as well as selected illustrations adds to the feeling of being on a ship. I’m pretty sure the round layout with both words and illustrations is due to the shape of the doughnut but, it works pretty well that portholes are the same shape. No space is wasted with details surrounding the round layouts. I like that the simple and straightforward story is shared, but so are the legends with tales spun by sailors. The author’s note also includes the controversy with others claiming the invention as their own. The timeline lays out the events in chronological order (as timelines often do) and the Selected Bibliography shows that the author used some credible sources, many of which are books that curious readers might want to check out. The author Pat Miller notes that a side comment about where Gregory was buried sparked her interest to journey down this rabbit hole (donut hole?!) to the story we find presented. I love it and I hope readers will too!
Title: The Hole Story of the Doughnut
Author: Pat Miller
Illustrator:Vincent X. Kirsch
Published 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 978-0-544-31961-5
This copy was received from the publisher for purposes of review.
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