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Miscellaneous Hamster Fiction - Reviews

Max the Hamster (Cartoons) by Giovannetti (USA, 1950s)

Susie's Babies by E. Margaret Clarkson (USA, 1959 - first published in the UK in 1976)

Susie's Babies is a Christian-orientated sex education book for middle schoolers, discussing how reproduction works in the context of a planned pregnancy for classroom hamster Susie.

The book goes into a reasonable amount of detail about the biological mechanisms of 'mating' and pregnancy in mammals, and touches on birth and weaning. A good standard of hamster care is shown in the book, with much being made of the need to allow Susie space and privacy, not handle her or the babies in situations where it might hurt them, and modelling a tolerant attitude to biting without punishment when it comes from protectiveness or confusion.

This book was originally published throughout the 1960s and reprinted repeatedly until the 1990s and deals exclusively with heterosexual behaviour. As well as educating children on the biological basics of reproduction the story also draws a very clear line between mating "like animals" (described as being outside marriage, which can produce babies but is seen as second best and therefore something to be pitied, eg: in the case of single parents) and within marriage "as God intended for people". One of the children in the classroom is adopted and the text is not shaming towards him although it also mentions people "giving up a child" (for adoption) as being sometimes unfortunate but necessary outside marriage.

My Hamster crawls. And other piano pieces composed and illustrated by children. Collected by P. Ramsier, etc by Paul Ramsier (1965)

The Hamster Ballet Company by Stanley Baron and Janis Mitchell (1983)

Republished in 1986

The Hamster Opera Company by Stanley Baron and Janis Mitchell (1983)

Republished in 1988

The Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters Series by Don Chin(1986-1989)

This short series of nine comics was published as a parody of the contemporary and very popular "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" brand.

Real hamsters are not at all relevant to this series, the word seemingly being picked arbitrarily as another form of exotic pocket pet to replace "Turtle" in the title.

Sex With Your Hamster by Dr Norman Litter, 1986

WARNING, THIS BOOK IS VERY SEXUALLY EXPLICIT AND AIMED AT ADULTS ONLY.

A book from a comedy series called "Sex with your....(poodle, exhaust pipe, coffin, etc)", featuring humans having consensual sex with hamsters in word and (somewhat cartoony but extremely graphic) illustration.

This book is aimed at the "gag gift" niche. The format is based on double page spreads, each with a full-page black-and-white pen-and-ink illustration on the right and a topic with 2-3 short paragraphs of 'advice' regarding it on the left.

In this book (and possibly all the other books in the same series?), the topics start off with eg: asking out on a date, kissing etc, and move on through various specific sexual acts and related issues such as contraception and disease.

Were the book intended seriously as an advice guide the content would be extremely horrific (and also lead to the certain death of hamsters), however it appears to be designed as a send-up of human sexual advice manuals and the inclusion of a hamster theme is intended to heighten the absurdity. A small amount of realistic hamster information has been included, however, not only describing stereotypical behaviours such as wheel-running but also eg: mentioning the 16-day gestation of the hamster.

The book was also republished in 1987

The sign of the hamster (poems) by Hugo Claus (1986)

Possibly translated from the French - Le signe du hamster: Poemes (Serie europeenne)

Hamster Vice by Dwayne J Ferguson (Blackthorne Publishing) (1986-87)

Hamster Vice is a short series of comics seemingly contemporary to Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters

Real hamsters are not at all relevant to this series.

The Eat Your Own Pet Cookbook, Double-Tested Recipes for Pet Lovers Everywhere by Russell Jones (1988)

This 'gag gift' book covers suggestions for consumption of a variety of types of household pet, including the hamster.

Published by Grub Street, London.

The Beano, No 211: Minnie the Minx and her Hamster (1990)

The Hamster History of Britain by Janis Mitchell and Stanley Baron (1991)

The Hamster's Diary & Other Kinds Of Writing (Oxford Primary English): Other Kinds of Writing 1 by Brian Moses (1992)

This is a book about styles of writing and composition, not about hamsters - the 'hamster's diary' is one of the examples used of a piece of writing that might have certain identifying characteristics different to other formats.

Hamsters, Farts, Werewolves... and a Bunny who does amazing things! by Jo Nesbo (1992)

Hauncho the hamster by Edward Campbell (1993)

This is a play-script from Pioneer Drama. Further details ca be found here.

Freddie Star Ate My Hamster by Jonathan Margolis and Gabrielle Morris (1994)

A reference to this famous Sun headline of 1986.

Nostradamus Ate My Hamster by Robert Rankin (1996/97/98)

Why Did You Have to Get a Divorce? and When Can I Get a Hamster?: A Guide to Parenting Through Divorce by Anthony E. Wolf (1998)

2 X 9 = hamster by Prochazkova Iva (1998)

"Donald Dewar Ate My Hamster" and Other Tales by Ron Ferguson (Nov 1999)

Feeling Like A Hamster by Boosey and Hawkes (1999)

This is sheet music.

The Hairy Hamster Hunt and Other Pet Poems by Tony Bradman and Chris Fisher (1999)

Talonspotting by Andrew Harman (2000)

Published by Orbit.

Squeak! squeak! by Siobhan Dodds (2001)

Published by Hodder Children's/Hodder Toddler. A hamster doesfeature in this picture book but only very briefly - in hte hunt for the source of a mysterious squeaking noise that begins after putting on her new shoes, the protagonist considers a hamster running in its wheel as one possible option.

The Melonpool Cartoons by Steve Troop (2003 etc)

The Melonpool cartoons primarily exist as a webcomic. However, four books containing Melonpool strips have been released, available singly and as a collected set. These are titled: The Ultimate Melonpool: A Collection of Comics. Melonpool II: The Voyage Home. A Collection of Comics. Melonpool III: A New Hope: A Collection of Comics. Melonpool IV: Castaway: A Collection of Comics.

The Melonpool books are described in their publicity material as: A comic strip about three aliens, a clone, a telepathic dog and a 220-lb hamster who try to blend into Earth society. The journey of a young cartoonist from kindergarten to high school to college.

The hamster character in the series is called Sammy the Hammy, a perpetually hungry, childlike animal crewmember who powers the spaceship by running in a wheel. Sammy is the result of a failed experiment and is apparently a member of the fictional species 'Cricetus giganticus' (Gigantic Hamster).

The Hamster That Loved Puccini: The Seven Modern Sins of Christmas Round-robin Letters by Simon Hoggart (2005)

This book is not really about hamsters - the "classical music-loving" pet of the title is a representative example of the pretentiousness/snobbery/one-upmanship which forms the main topic of the book.

Pets with Tourette's by Mark Leigh and Mike Lepine (2007)

How to Fossilise Your Hamster by New Scientist (2007)

The Ebichu Minds the House (Oruchuban Ebichu) Series (Japan, 2007-2008)

WARNING, THIS SERIES IS VERY SEXUALLY EXPLICIT AND AIMED AT ADULTS ONLY.

Oruchuban Ebichu is a numbered series of manga books following Ebichu, a female hamster who spends her days helping out her moody twenty-something owner. The manga was originally produced in Japanese (although English translations are available online - link goes to the index of a general manga directory which may also be unsuitable for children) and the series has also been published in Spanish as "Ebichu. El Hamster Ama De Casa". Ebichu looks very much like Hamtaro although her orange patch is over the opposite ear - this manga has been described as Hamtaro's exact opposite in many other respects as well.

Vimrod - Love by Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar (2007)

The cover of this short picture book for adults says "Love. You and me... ...two hamsters on the spinning-wheel of life", along with a drawing of two humanoids standing on the outside top of a hamster wheel containing a heart. This is the entire hamster-related content, however, the rest of the book is witty observations on love and romance, intended as a gift item for a loved one.

There's a Hamster in the Fast Lane by Brian Moses (2008)

This book is a collection of short animal poems for children, only two of the poems are about hamsters.

Reflections of a Solitary Hamster by Astrid Desbordes (France, 2008, translated for UK in 2009 and US in 2010)

This book was published in the USA as ‘Daydreams of a Solitary Hamster’ by Astrid Desbordes and Pauline Martin.

Hamsters vs. Hipsters by Richard Grayson (2010)

This "book" is only available on Kindle

Vodka & Hamsters by Cass Miller (2011)

My Hamster Has A Headache A Collection of Poems By Barry Flinter (Blurb, 2011)

The Diary of Edward the Hamster 1990-1990 by Miriam Elia (2012)

The Man Who Killed the Hamsters - A Biography of Ian Moss by Stephen Dobson (2012)

The Threat-Hamster Papers (The Threat-Hamster series) by Paul Wallis (2012)

This has nothing to do with hamsters whatsoever - the "Threat-Hamster" of the title of the title is the double-barelled and deliberately ridiculous/surreal surname of one of the characters.

Help A Hamster: A Gentle Introduction To Adoption by Hilary Robinson and Mandy Stanley (2013)

The Hamster Ride: & 25 Other Short Biking Stories by Susan Meyers (2013)