Lynn Rowe Reed

Waking from his hibernation, a bear goes in search of breakfast, knowing that whatever it is he's craving, it begins with 'B'. Encountering a series of creatures whose names begin with that letter - a bunny, a bumblebee, a boa constrictor - the bear is continually convinced to keep looking, joined by an ever-growing coterie of helpers who want to see his hunger focused elsewhere. When he sees a boy eating berries however, and grows excited, his newfound companions think he has focused on the show more wrong sort of breakfast...

A sweet little book, one featuring adorable artwork and a humorous surprise ending - despite his companion's fears, the bear is focused on the berries - Bear's Big Breakfast would make for en engaging story-time selection. I had the pleasure, as it happens, of reading it with the author at a recent picture-book event, and the ending definitely elicited a chuckle! Brett Helquist's illustrations, done in acrylic and oil, are just charming - I love Bear's expressions! - and add to the fun. Recommended to anyone looking for fun story-time books featuring animals. show less

Grades 1-3

Robin Pulver and Lynn Rowe Reed team up again for the newest addition to the Language Arts Library, this time with a humorous look at suffixes. It's the last day of school and the kids are griping about Mr. Wright's announcement that they will be studying word endings. When the suffixes overhear that the students will be "tackling" the subject after lunch, they are worried that they need to get into shape for such a physical confrontation, and head for the gym. Mr. Wright and the show more students don't know where the suffixes have disappeared to, and start putting up posters to find them. Realizing that the students don't want to physically harm them after all and that they ARE appreciated, the suffixes leave clues around so that the students can find them again. Playful use of text makes suffixes throughout the story easy to identify, and Reed's illustrations give -ing, -less, -ful, and the various other word endings plenty of personality. The last two pages include helpful rules and clues about adding suffixes to words. A winner! show less

I really liked this book because it highlighted the suffix in every word that had one. Because of this I think that this would be a great book to read to students when they are learning about suffixes because they can see how often they are used and how they are used in a story. The characters are also relatable with the students not wanting to learn them and acting up towards the end of school. It makes it a fun book as well because the author made the word endings their own characters. For show more example, “the suffixes were doing push- ups and pull-ups. They were running and jumping, bouncing and balancing.” They also left the students clues as to where they were hiding when the students realized they disappeared. The main message of the book is to help students learn about word endings (suffixes) and how they are used. show less

A silly story about word endings, or suffixes, and a restless, ready-for-summer-vacation class of kids. Back matter includes "helpful rules about adding suffixes to words" and explains how to look at a word's ending to break it down into a manageable length. Throughout the book, suffixes (-ing, -ed, -s, -est, -ly, and more) are in red, with the regular text in black.