D is for Donut by Rachel Teichman; photographs by Rebecca Wright; Oakland, California: The Collective Book Studio; ISBN 9781685-551865; 36 pages including recipes and acknowledgements; $15.95.
SAN DIEGO — Just paging through this lusciously photographed alphabet book, I felt my calorie and AIC counts rising. You imagine that you could reach into the pages and snag a donut or two.
For children just learning the alphabet, Jewish author Rachel Teichman’s rhyming couplets no doubt will be a delight, perhaps inspiring a sugar high whenever they gleefully recite their ABC’s.
Each letter of the alphabet has a photograph of a donut with a name starting with that letter. For those of us who celebrate Chanukah, one endearing pair of donuts on facing pages reads: “S is for sufganiyah filled with jam when they’re made; T is for twist, it almost looks like a braid.”
The very sweet alphabet book includes Apple Fritter; Beignet; Cereal; Devil’s Food; Eclair, French Cruller; Glazed; Hazelnut Chocolate; Ice; Jelly; Key Lime; Loukoumades; Maple, Nut, Old-fashioned; Powdered Sugar; Quick Rise; Rainbow Sprinkles; the aforementioned Sufganiyah and Twist; Ube; Vanilla Custard; White Chocolate; X-tra Donut Holes; Yoyo and Zeppole.
There are recipes at the end for Raised Donuts and Quick Baked Donuts.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com