The Case of the Missing Donut by Alison McGhee (review)

The sheriff (small boy) and his deputy (scruffy dog) have a mission: "to bring a dozen donuts safely home." On the way home, concern leads the sheriff to check the contents, and upon finding one donut is "a little smushed," he does what we would all do—he neatens things up until there's no donut left. Much to his bafflement, however, everybody he meets along the city street seems to know his shameful secret ("How was that donut?" asks a neighbor); once he arrives home, his parents immediately know the truth as well, and when the boy looks in the mirror he sees why: a telltale powdered-sugar ring around his mouth. McGhee, co-author of the Bink and Gollie titles, has an enjoyably stagey flair to her text that will make it a readaloud treat ("Phew. All was well in donut world"), and many youngsters will understand the temptation and the responsibility of transporting such precious cargo. The digital art balances a big-eyed cartoonish sensibility with delicate linework and muted complex colors. The revealing powdered-sugar marks could be a little more visible, but the figures are a treat, with the protagonist a pint-sized, big-hatted sheriff and the canine deputy offering some stealthily skeptical expressions. This is a stylish Western-lite picture book with an enjoyable twang, and viewers will develop a powerful hankering for their own box of treats.