It takes something special for a picture book to make me laugh and cry, but Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finison illustrated by Brianne Farley has all the right ingredients!
This sweet, rhyming story features a bear, LouAnn. She whips up a batch of doughnuts to eat before her long winter's nap. But just as she's about to eat, ding-dong! One friend after another shows up, and LouAnn keeps sharing and baking, never getting a chance to eat a single doughnut! Finally she is fed up (of not being fed). She roars and her friends who leave in a hurry. But, ding-dong, they're back with a surprise that brings tears to my eyes every time.
I'm pretty picky about rhyming books, but this one is so well done. One of my favorite parts is how the doorbell constantly interrupts one of the rhymes, which will have your kids in fits of giggles!
This is also one of those picture books that appeals just as much to the parent reader as the child. As a mom, I identify so much with LouAnn. I think that's why I get teary when her friend (aka kids) turn the tables and treat her.
I'm writing this just after Mother's Day, but this book would be a great gift to celebrate any mom or parent who is always giving of themselves. Show them you recognize that by sharing this story!
I highly recommend checking out Dozens of Doughnuts for kids of all ages!
If you enjoy rhyming picture books, check out THIS LIST.
Carolyn Leiloglou is the award-winning author of the middle grade fantasy trilogy The Restorationists. She is the granddaughter of art collectors, daughter of an art teacher, and homeschooling mom to four wildly creative kids, two now graduated. She’s been reviewing her favorite children’s books on House full of Bookworms for over a decade. Carolyn and her husband Demetrios make their home in San Antonio, Texas, and you can find her everywhere online as House full of Bookworms.
