Book: The Donut Chef
Author: Bob Staake (blog)
Pages: 40
Age Range: 4-8
Although he's more widely known for his New Yorker covers (Time Magazine selected one of these gorgeous covers as the number one magazine cover of 2008 - see a detailed post about this by Paul Giambarba), I love Bob Staake's work in picture books. Mary Had a Little Lamp (which he illustrated) is one of my favorites, and I also recently enjoyed Trucks Go Pop!, a playful pop-up book. Naturally, then, I was pleased to receive a copy of Staake's The Donut Chef a few months back.
The Donut Chef, written and illustrated by Bob Staake, is the story of a donut maker who gets so caught up in competing with a rival baker that he loses sight of what customers really want. He makes donuts in all sorts of crazy flavors and shapes, to the point where they can barely be called donuts at all. Things get out of hand, and the customers start to look sickly. Fortunately, the donut chef is reminded of his roots by a young, wistful customer, and his business is saved.
Staake's rhyming text is humorous and kid-friendly, with passages like this:
"They tried new shapes beyond just rings--
Their donuts were such crazy things!
Some were square and some were starry,
Some looked just like calamari!
Some were airy, some were cone-y!
Some resembled macaroni!"
But it's his trademark colorful, geometric illustrations that make the book. Every page is chock-full of people with perfectly round heads (in greens and reds and purples), interspersed with others who have parabola noses, or sweeping curtains of hair. Each character is unique and quirky, yet clearly identifiable as part of Staake's world. The rival donut chef has a sly look to his red face, while our hero donut chef's eyes reveal his own temporary madness, even as his smile stays in place.
The illustrations also reveal hidden treats for the careful reader, such as a billboard atop a roof, offering "personal transportational flying saucers for $19.95 (available now!)", an elderly woman with knitting needles sticking out of her bun, and a tiny mouse peeking around the wide leg of the donut chef. The crazy donuts, though not palatable to the customers (imagine eating a donut that looks like a snail!), offer a visual feast for the eyes, an engaging pattern of colors, patterns, and shapes.
I recommend The Donut Chef to fans of Bob Staake's work, and to anyone looking for a colorful smorgasbord of a picture book. It is pure fun!
Publisher: Golden Books
Publication Date: September 9, 2008
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher
Other Blog Reviews: Shelf-Employed, Amanda, InfoDad, {little blog of stories}
Author Interviews: Drawn!, Just One More Book! (podcast about Staake's contribution to the Love of Reading Gallery)
© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.
We read Staake's The Red lemon alongside Lemons Are Not Red. Fun! Will look for Donut Chef; thanks!
Posted by: Anamaria | January 03, 2009 at 01:44 PM
The Red Lemon won a NYT Best Illustrated nod, and it's one of my favorite books ever. I heard Bob speak about writing/illustrating this fall at the PNBA conference, and he says he did the whole thing (RL) in about three days. He confesses that his whole style is to not obsess over things like *some* illustrators. RL is fantastic (maybe because of this) and so is The Donut Chef. Great pick!
Posted by: Kristen McLean | January 03, 2009 at 03:07 PM
How timely!
Son, Hubby and I spent last night at Krispy Kreme eating too many donuts.
Posted by: Lisa Yee | January 03, 2009 at 05:30 PM
This sounds like a cute read... I'll have to check it out sometime!
Posted by: Katie | January 03, 2009 at 08:50 PM
Funny, my Donut Chef review being timely, Lisa, given that I first read it a couple of months ago (and am only just now catching up on reviews - love this four day weekend thing). And evening at Krispy Kreme sounds like a nice way to spend family time, though.
Clearly, Kristen and Anamaria, I'm going to have to get myself a copy of The Red Lemon. Thanks for the added background on that, Kristen. That is really neat.
And Katie, I hope you like The Donut Chef. I highly recommend Mary Had a Little Lamp, too. I loved the humor in that one.
Happy picture book reading to all!
Posted by: Jen Robinson | January 04, 2009 at 12:20 PM
I do really like his work for the New Yorker, and I'll have to check out his picture books.
Posted by: Lenore | January 04, 2009 at 02:38 PM
This looks colorful and fun. It sounds like there's a happy ending too. Thanks for the review.
Posted by: Deanna H | January 04, 2009 at 03:37 PM
Definitely worth checking out, Lenore and Deanna. And yes, there is a happy ending (I don't worry so much about spoilers when reviewing picture books).
Posted by: Jen Robinson | January 04, 2009 at 03:44 PM
I loved the Electric Company-eee, The Electric Company-E.E.E.!
"Conjunction Junction, what's your function?"
"Picking up words and making them run right."
Whoo. . .That's a blast from my past.
But I still haven't forgotten it.
Posted by: Kim Kasch | January 04, 2009 at 09:20 PM
Hi, Loved the excepts from The Donut Chef. The book looks bright and fun, and I will check this out as a possible gift to some of my grandchildren (the about 7's).
Posted by: Irene J Harvey | January 13, 2009 at 04:57 AM