A good author shouldn't talk down to his readers. Even if they're only three feet tall. Whether it's Daniel Handler's adorably horrific yarns or Dr. Seuss' rhyming fireside chats, the best kids' books encourage children to be engaged readers, and bring smiles to adults as well.

Mark Alan Stamaty's Who Needs Donuts? is such a book. It's the story of Sam, who leaves the 'burbs and heads to the big city for donuts. He doesn't want just one, but hundreds and hundreds of the confections. The plot, though, is secondary to the pictures. The black-and-white drawings are reminiscent of R. Crumb's illustrations or the cartoon Squigglevision of Dr. Katz, and the scenes are as dense as any Where's Waldo tableau.

Mark Alan Stamaty — a Slate author and an illustrator whose comic strip "Washingtoon" has appeared in the Village Voice, TIME, and dozens of other publications — wrote Who Needs Donuts? in 1973. When it was published, the book received raves from the New York Times and was slammed by Publishers Weekly. It went quickly out of print and into cult status. Thankfully, Knopf brought it back in 2003, with a handful of the author's own minor touch-ups.

Though it probably couldn't equal the amount of time Stamaty spent drawing them, one would need hours to decode the visual tumult within Donuts' pages. In each, in-jokes (the author and friends appear as characters), quips, puns, and asides abound, both visual and verbal. When you look closely, there are ads and signs in the background that read: "We deliver to your door. If it calls and places an order" and "Taxi. 30% Off Duty."

It's the hidden wordplay in this visual maelstrom that allows a parent and child to create interactive responses rather than just passive reading. The eye-catching, zany illustrations will bring adult readers back even years later, when the jokes are more accessible but no less charming.

Primers with Dick and Jane may be good for you, but Who Needs Donuts? is enormously filling.

-Chris Gage