Little Bear continually turns up his nose at his breakfast of porridge, refusing to eat it even with addition of nuts, berries, and honey. Mommy Bear devises a plan to encourage her cub to eat. Placing the bowl of porridge out on a tree stump in the yard, she tells him that if he won’t eat it, Old Scary Bear will. Day after day the porridge disappears. If there is no such thing as an Old Scary Bear, then who is eating all of the porridge? Sweet illustrations rendered in earthy tones depict an increasingly worried Little Bear as he tries to understand the confusing story. A poor message seems to suggest that if parents frighten their children with imagined creatures, they will eat. Solves a common dilemma with some questionable parenting. Misses the mark. (Picture book. 3-7)
