Peeking Into A Pastry's Past

Certain foods prompt memories; the first (or only) time you tasted something new, a parent's special recipe or when you cooked a meal all by yourself.  They are an integral part of annual celebrations and cultural traditions.  One very special pastry has been a crowd-pleaser for more than one hundred fifty years.

Growing up there was nothing better than walking into the local bakery early in the morning and tasting one freshly made.  In one of my school positions whenever there was a snow day, one of my neighborhood family's made them, inviting me to join in the fun.  The Hole Story Of The Doughnut (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 3, 2016) written by Pat Miller with illustrations by Vincent X. Kirsch adds a delicious ingredient to an already scrumptious treat.

Few remember the master mariner
Hanson Crockett Gregory, though
he was bold and brave and bright.

At the age of thirteen Hanson left his home in Maine to sail the seas as a cabin boy.  He became a cook's assistant and then was assigned to scale the ship's rigging releasing the sails.  Can you imagine climbing eight stories on lines in your bare feet?

Six years later he captained a cargo schooner, then in a short time lead a crew sailing a clipper ship from coast to coast.  He even received a medal from Queen Isabella II of Spain for rescuing Spanish sailors at sea.  There is little doubt as to the excellence of Hanson Crockett Gregory's skills aboard a ship.

This book is not solely about Hanson's abilities as a sailor but his ingenious leap of faith in the galley one morning cooking for the crew as an assistant when he was a teenager.  Rather than making the less than savory "sinkers", ball-shaped fried dough with gooey, greasy centers, he altered the routine.  Voila!  A new delectable treat was born.

Over time legends of an elaborate nature were told about the doughnut's origin, daring rescues at sea involving sinkers, wheels and belaying pins but we readers know the truth.  Decades later Hanson is quoted in a newspaper interview, giving a humorous and humble reply to a query.  Today in his honor he still looks to the sea from his resting place.


With her introductory two sentences Pat Miller reminds readers there are many stories within the single story of our lives.  She highlights the sailing life of Gregory first; giving us a foundation for his famous invention.  Then using a flashback technique we are privy to his creativity and how it spread from ship to shore.  The specific details in both of these narratives represent meticulous research.  By including other tales of the origin, she allows us to see how legends are formed.  Here is a sample passage representative of her conversational presentation in this book.

Hansom formed balls of sweetened dough.  Both men stood on spread legs as the cramped galley lurched with the ship.  Pans clanged overhead.
The aroma of browning sugar rose as the cook dropped in the first blobs of dough.  The iron railing on the stovetop kept the pot in place as the Ivanhoe bucked and plunged. ...


For knowing observers of children literature illustrators, they will recognize the work of Vincent X. Kirsch last seen in Gingerbread for Liberty!: How a German Baker Helped Win the American Revolution.  The attention to details on the matching dust jacket and book case enhance the narrative adding tasty pieces of humor; the medal on Gregory's jacket, the whale reaching toward the doughnut mouth open and the expression on Gregory's face after sampling his invention.  On the back, to the left, within a circle of rope (a line) all eight legs of an octopus are holding a doughnut through the hole.  The blue along the bottom edge on the front crosses the spine becoming the hue surrounding the golden shade inside the circle. Eighteen rows of nine doughnuts and life rings around a doughnut with a ship's anchor in an array of decorative patterns (Fourth of July, Halloween, and a snowman) cover the opening and closing endpapers.  A clever set of marine signal flags spells out a request on the verso page.

Throughout the volume Kirsch places his images within circles framed by white space, background visuals extending the opposite picture and rope.  His perspective shifts bringing readers into the moment;  a smaller Gregory high in the vast rigging with the sun behind him, the movement of the ship at sea, a close-up of the defining ingenious moment in the galley or brave rescues during stormy waters.  All of the illustrations are suggestive of the energy surrounding this man; nothing is static.  Although my knowledge of period attire and architecture is limited it seems that Kirsch is authentic in his work.

One of my favorite illustrations is when Kirsch zooms in on Gregory hard at work in the galley bending over a tray of "sinkers".  Behind him are the shelves in the galley lined with ingredients.  He gives additional color to the important element there.  The look on Gregory's face is determined as well as full of hope.  You can see the progress of his baking spread before him.


This nonfiction picture book biography will linger in readers' minds as surely as the first sweet taste of a well-cooked doughnut will in their mouths.  The Hole Story Of The Doughnut written by Pat Miller with illustrations by Vincent X. Kirsch is savory and informative from beginning to end.  The final four pages include a photograph of Hanson Crockett Gregory, an author's note, a timeline, acknowledgments and a selected bibliography.

To discover more about Pat Miller and Vincent X. Kirsch please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Vincent X.Kirsch gives readers a peak at several interior images from this title.  Please read the review of this title at Jama's Alphabet Soup by Jama Rattigan.  She includes other helpful links on the progress of this book's creation.  On May 18, 2016 Pat Miller is a guest on a podcast at Storybook Spotlight, SSP86.



Please stop by Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to discover the other books selected by bloggers participating in the 2016 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

The Right Taste

No thoughts of Thanksgiving are complete without thinking of my Dad.  He and his three younger brothers were extraordinary cooks.  Their gift began in being highly skilled in gardening, working with the soil and tending every single seed and plant until it was a thing of beauty.  They believed a good meal began with those items it contained.

Of the four my father, with no prejudice intended, was the best gardener and culinary wizard.  His favorite herb to use was sage, growing his own plants, picking the best leaves, washing them, drying them and grinding them up to give as gifts to family and friends in carefully labeled jars.  When I first read Alice Waters and the Trip To Delicious (Readers to Eaters, Bellevue, Washington, August 26, 2014) written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin with illustrations by Hayelin Choi I rejoiced in knowing about one woman who devoted her life to what was a significant aspect of my childhood.

Some people want new red shoes.

Some people want to sing on stage

or play basketball.

Chef Alice Waters wants every kid in the country

to come with her on the trip to Delicious.

She believes every child should enjoy lunch, a lunch full of flavor and unforgettable taste.  This desire did not come to her in adulthood, during college, her teen years or even her first years in school.  It's safe to say this kinship with food began when she was three years old.  It had something to do with winning a costume contest.

Her affection for food led her to France where she studied, worked and talked with like-minded people.  

Sharing good food

could start a party, make memories.

Upon her return home to America, Alice wanted this connection between food and friends to continue.  Searching for the best fruits, vegetables, meats, herbs and spices, cooking and serving the meals gave her an idea.  There never seemed to be enough room in her home so she decided to open a restaurant, a restaurant which felt like her home.  Chez Panisse became a reality.

Alice was relentless in her pursuit of the very finest, freshest ingredients.  Her restaurant's popularity soon brought farmers to her with their produce. No meal was served unless Alice tasted it first.  Everyone needed to reach the same destination, Delicious.

Alice's restaurant served people from all walks of life which earned her an award given to a woman for the first time.  She made sure even children would feel comfortable at Chez Panisse.  This care given to meals for the youngest eaters made her notice something else.  Another idea was about to be born.

A school without a kitchen was on her route to the restaurant each day.  What if there was a garden at the school?  What if the students learned to cook meals?  What if the students traveled down the path to Delicious?  The Edible Schoolyard became a reality there and is still expanding today to other places around the world.  One person, Alice Waters, changed the way we think about food.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin forms the narrative for her biographies with an initial premise, building upon this event by event making her readers more acquainted with an individual on a personal level.  Her inclusion of specific slices of Alice's life, the first place prize for the costume, her studies in France, the meeting with the boy in Turkey, the results of the first night Chez Panisse was open, Alice searching for natural foods, the famous individuals who visited her restaurant, and her attention given to the school she walked past every day, help to make readers appreciate the difference Alice has made in the food community, in the lives of thousands of people, especially children.  By adding the small circles containing precise facts to the larger conversation text it's as if Martin has pulled up a chair next to us, telling us everything she knows about Alice Waters.  She tells us those things which will have us honoring this woman as much as she does.  Here is a sample excerpt.

And that was a problem---

finding enough fresh, tasty food.

Frozen food was handy.

Food that had been on the shelves for days

was cheap.

But those were not right for the trip to Delicious.

Alice worked day and night finding just the right food.

She drove to the fish and poultry markets

in Chinatown---so often that her car began to smell

like a fish wagon and no one wanted to ride with her.

Debut picture book illustrator Hayelin Choi has rendered all the illustrations using brush and black ink, scanning them digitally and then coloring them.  Each element is blended together using Adobe Photoshop. Beginning with the front and back of the book case the color choices, lines and design evoke cheerfulness while introducing readers to the lengths Alice Waters goes to acquire fresh foods.  A lighter and darker shade of the predominant green on the cover is used in a design on the opening and closing endpapers; a swirling array of fruits, vegetables and fish.

The heavier matte-finished paper is the ideal canvas for Choi's work, serving to illuminate her style which looks almost like block printing.  Her pictures altered in size and perspective elevate the text as do the different background colors.  Many of her images are pure genius in their depiction of time, drawing your eyes from one point to another with lines or by following a pictorial border around text.

One of my favorite illustrations spans across two pages.  On the left Alice is shown cooking in her kitchen with pots, utensils and a light above her head.  She is crushing food with a mortar and pestle in her right hand.  With her left hand she is reaching for an onion being carried in the back of a small truck; about toy size.  What Choi has done is create a series of farms on the left connected by a roadway which runs into Alice's kitchen.  The farmland blends into her preparation counter.  I love this picture!

Alice Waters is a true inspiration; a living hero for children (and adults).  In reading Alice Waters and the Trip To Delicious written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin with illustrations by Hayelin Choi we understand how following a dream can impact the world in more ways than initially imagined.  I believe those who read this book will be excited to pursue some, if not all, of Alice Waters' ideas.  At the book's end is an afterward written by Alice Waters, an author's note, a bibliography, and a list of resource (Grow Your Own and Cook Your Own).

To learn more about Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Hayelin Choi please follow the links embedded in their names to access their personal websites.  At Hayelin Choi's website she has shown more images from the interior of the book.  Here is the link to The Edible Schoolyard Project website.  Follow this link to an interview of Jacqueline Briggs Martin by educator Mary Ann Scheuer for Parents' Press.  I would recommend using this title with Jacqueline Briggs Martin's other title, Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table, and It's Our Garden:  From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona.

I am thankful to be participating in the 2014 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge each week hosted by Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy.  Be sure to visit her site to see the titles recommended by other bloggers.