Scrolling through twitter today, I discovered that today’s #NationalDoughnutDay! (Apparently one of two days observed by select doughnut lovers). In honor of that, I rushed to finish up this post about a book that we’ve read dozens of times and wanted to share with our dozens of readers. Enjoy!
The Book
Dozens of Doughnuts is a rhyming picture book written by debut (What!?!) author Carrie Finison.
The main character LouAnn the bear makes the best doughnuts. But each time she bakes a new batch of “One dozen doughnuts hot from the pan. Toasty, and hot, and ALL for–“. … We sit at edge of the page turn only to find out … they are NOT ALL for LouAnn. Friend after friend come by and LouAnn shares her doughnuts. The more friends that come, the more doughnut-sharing must be done, every time, leaving poor LouAnn with none!
Brianne Farley’s endearing illustrations are the perfect match for Finison’s sweet story. We adored Farley playful depictions of LouAnn’s friends, from shy Moufette the skunk to the fun-loving chipmunk pair Chip and Chomp. And Farley’s end page art looks good enough to eat. For more of Farley’s brilliant illustrations and her own 2013 debut picture IKE’S INCREDIBLE INK book go here.
Published in July 2020 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, Dozens of Doughnuts pairs perfectly with doughnuts and munchkins (both the edible and non-edible kind).
The Math
The story situation of sharing doughnuts provides a rich mathematical context for the exploration of counting, addition, sharing, division/ multiplication. 12 is the perfect number to use in sharing situation as it is divisible by 2, 3, 4 and 6 making many opportunities for equal sharing possible( if only LouAnn’s friends would STOP RINGING THE DOORBELL!).
The Magic
I’ve been eyeing this book for a while (seeing it come up via twitter over and over) and was thrilled when my local library notified me a copy was ready for pick up. I eagerly headed off to pick up the book, the doughnut shop to pick up a pair of doughnuts, then raced home to share both with my 4 year old son, Landon.
I began reading and was happily surprised the book was in rhyme and lovely rhyme at that. As we continued to read, Landon was enthralled with both the story and illustrations. He pointed to the pages and the characters and became increasing distressed for poor LouAnn. “Awww, she doesn’t have any doughnuts.” He remarked. Then later. ” She’s angry. She has no doughnuts.”
This story’s emotional arc is perfection. Landon was invested throughout. As far as the math was concerned, he continuously checked all the plates and counted the doughnuts noticing poor LouAnn always had zero until…
SPOILER alert: When LouAnn FINALLY get her doughnuts, Landon clapped and cheered. I can’t remember a book ever bringing him to that reaction. MAGIC!
After our second reading of the book, Landon turned to me and said, “I love LouAnn. Can she live with us? I love her. I will let her play with my pink tablet.” [His fire tablet that he rarely shares with his siblings.] So…I’d say he connected to the character.
Dozens of Doughnuts had the ingredients for a magical math book for us: an initiation to explore a sharing situation, strong emotional connection to character, a fun rhyming read-aloud (and the doughnuts didn’t hurt). Glad we could share it today with you. Happy #NationalDoughnutDay!
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