Older Children's Hamster Fiction - Reviews
Belvedere Booklet 2 - Bishop the Hamster by H.W. Reynolds (UK, 1946)
This is now a scarce hamster book. It was written by the same author as the first British manual of hamster care. It is thought to contain anecdotes about the author’s own hamster, Bishop.
Hannibal Hamster goes to the Circus by Al Hayner (USA, 1947)
This is now a scarce hamster story-book. It was written by the same author as one of the early American manuals of hamster care.
Hamlet and Brownswiggle by Barbara Leonard Reynolds (USA, 1954)
This excellent hamster story follows the life of Ricky (an all-American middle child) as he explores the keeping and breeding of the still-exotic pet, the golden hamster. 203 pages, approx 150 words per page, some black and white illustrations by Robert Henneberger.
When it was first written, this book would have needed to rely on the excellent storytelling and real emotional depth of the feelings that Ricky struggles with in the highs and lows of his everyday life to draw in the audience. Now, it also has the novelty value of opening a window to a time when freckled 8 year olds ran lemonade stands and cycled around their neighbourhood on paper rounds alone or with their 6yr old sisters, and when hamsters were kept in their hundreds by volume breeders and sent out to customers who had never seen one before but were eager to have their own pair.
This book promotes an excellent standard of hamster care because all the core characters try their absolute best for the pets throughout, and go to the lengths of forming a hamster society and corresponding with each other and experts to be certain of getting the best advice. Through today's eyes, some of the expectations of what is the best way to look after a hamster have changed (especially the general willingness to sell pets to young children with no parental permission), however the book is clearly a period piece and should be taken as such (hamster care books from the same time and place show the same cultural norms).
This book briefly mentions some themes that may be considered graphic or distressing by modern standards (there is a distant flood disaster, worry over baby hamsters which have not yet opened their eyes, and a brief mention of hamster use in science labs to help cure disease, for example) but these are all treated in an age-appropriate way in a book clearly designed for younger readers and all serve to improve the story and demonstrate the empathy Ricky has for others. The issue of how baby hamsters come to be once a male and a female are owned is swiftly passed over when two "males" result in an accidental litter appearing although there is much detailed observation of hamster behaviour in other respects, and the book was clearly written by someone who had closely observed both adult and young hamsters.
Brighteyes, The Story of a Golden Hamster by Fritz Reinhardt - Translated from the German (Hansel Knopfauges Abenteuer – The Adventures of Hansel Brighteyes) by Rosemary Davidson. (1958)
Brighteyes is a chapter book describing the life story of a pet hamster named Brighteyes. It starts when the hamster is bought at the pet shop, continues through various escapades as the hamster acts as an unwitting ambassador to humans who have never seen a hamster before and converts them all into hamster-fans, and includes a surprise litter (surprising both because the family thought the hamster was male and because no other hamsters are around at that point and they seem to have owned the hamster for rather longer than the usual 16-day gestation by the time it gives birth). Rather unexpectedly for a modern audience, the book does not end well for the original Brighteyes due to adult negligence, and the story then undermines a lot of the previous message of hamsters as individual living creatures who need good care by suggesting that any particular hamster can be easily replaced by another interchangeably.
I, Houdini: The Autobiography of a Self-educated Hamster (Lions) by Lynne Reid Banks, illustrated by Terry Riley (1978)
This book is also sometimes subtitled "The Amazing Story of an Escape-Artist Hamster". It has proved incredibly successful - being reprinted in 1981, 86, 88, 89, 91, 92, 95, 96 and 1998 (at minimum). As a result there are many different editions with different cover art.
Peanut Butter Hamster and Other Animal Tails (Winner Book) by Grace Fox Anderson and Richard Johnson (1979)
The Princess and the Dragon-hamster by Corley Byrne and J. Beales (1 Oct 1985)
Depending how you look at it, there are possibly no hamsters in this book! The "Dragon-hamster" is a dragon who is turned into hamster form by some poorly executed magic and then shifts between the two shapes whilst retaining his dragon personality (although as a hamster he prefers to eat cheese sandwiches rather than sheep).
The Animal Ark Series by Lucy Daniels (UK, 1996-2007)
"Animal Ark" is a large series of books for age 8+ following Mandy Hope (daughter of the vets of 'Animal Ark' practice) and her friend James Hunter through various adventures showcasing a different animal in every book. Five of the books in the range star hamsters - "Hamster in a Hamper" (1996), one of the original titles, "Hamster Hotel" (1996) from the spinoff 'Pets' series, "Hamster in the Holly" (1998), a Christmas Special, "Hamster Holiday" (2001) and "The Happy Hamster" from the Little Animal Ark range (2007). Each relies heavily on hamster escapes/lost hamsters to add excitement and pacing. Several reprint editions are available with slightly different cover art, and the first two titles are available in a combined book, "Hamsters Need Help". Hamster in a Hamper is printed in the USA as "Hamster in a Handbasket". Hamster in a Hamper is available in audio format and Hamster Hotel is also available bound as part of a 3-in-1 with two other titles. Animal Ark books are the work of multiple authors under the shared pen name and persona of Lucy Daniels.
'Hamster in a Hamper' (2004 edition pictured, 154 pages) follows Mandy and James as they look after school Syrian hamster 'Henry the Eighth' over the summer holidays. It contains plenty of hamster facts and incidental notes on hamster care and feeding though also some spectacularly poor choices made by human characters who probably should know better. The story is focused on the two friends, other children and people living in their village (some of whom are clearly cameos from other books in the Animal Ark series) and the hamster itself is used as a plot item around which to weave one of the two main threads of the story - the other thread concerning a new caravan park. Peril ensues, involving repeated near misses and hamster escapes (demonstrating why it is not actually that great an idea to carry your hamster around town with you all the time even in a cage, and certainly not to handle them loose in uncontrolled circumstances) but the genuine affection of all the characters for the hamster is obvious and after a lot of drama, suspense and lessons about friendship and bullying there is a heartwarming ending. As well as being a good storybook this would be a particularly good place to start a discussion about proper hamster care as both responsible and irresponsible behaviour towards hamsters is modelled and even human 'good intentions' (including feeding crisps, releasing outside etc) often lead to harmful or even potentially fatal experiences for Henry the Eighth.
In 'Hamster Hotel' (121 pages) Mandy goes to stay with her grandparents for the week to help them look after a friend's "Russian hamster", Frisky. This is a gentler book than 'Hamster in a Hamper', showing responsible, supervised pet care despite Gran's total lack of knowledge about hamsters, and despite some accidental complications during the week the stay generally goes very well. The book contains some basic information about hamsters including demonstration of how to recapture a runaway pet hamster using a 'bucket trap' and how to make a homemade hamster 'adventure playground' to enrich the cage, which would be useful for readers with a hamster of their own. This book does spread the contemporary misinformation that all hamsters have to live on their own - whilst this is true for Syrian hamsters, a dwarf hamster like Frisky might be pleased to live with a same sex companion.
'Hamster in the Holly' (153 pages) has less of a clear single hamster plot from beginning to end than 'Hamper' or 'Hotel', as the starring hamsters all live in different places to Mandy and so they come in and out of her story as the plot demands. The main body of the book is based around the school play in which Mandy is acting and features a brief cameo from Henry, the hamster star of 'Hamster in a Hamper'. There are also three other hamsters owned by an adult client of the Animal Ark vet practice, including a Satin Cream Syrian (Honey, pictured on the cover), an Angora (longhaired) Cinnamon Syrian (Marmalade) and a White Chinese hamster (Mabel) who gives birth to a litter during the book. Despite Honey's escapades, the real hamster star of the book is Norvik, a Himalayan (roan) Syrian who died shortly before the story begins and is deeply missed by his owner Daniel. This book has very little hamster care information or normal interaction with pet hamsters and is presuambly aimed most at fans of the recurring human characters. In particular it is not made at all clear that a Chinese hamster is a different species to a Syrian hamster.
"Hamster Holiday" is based around a 'holiday camp for hamsters' set up by new boy in class, Nelson, to look after the hamsters of the village in his home as a money-making exercise over the Christmas holidays (when many people will be away visiting relatives and so want their hamsters looking after). This is the perfect excuse to gather a wide variety of hamsters together, including a group of baby hamsters, Frisky the Russian hamster from 'Hamster Hotel', and a very valuable and exotic Roborovski Dwarf hamster (the book being set just as Dwarf hamsters were first becoming mainstream in the UK). Inevitably, there is a mild disaster and the three children Nelson, Mandy and James are left holding the hamsters and having to put their heads together to find a constructive solution to their situation.
The Sleepover Club at Rosie's : the pet show by Rose Impey (1997)
Published by Collins as part of the Sleepover Club series.
The Hamster Series by Elizabeth Hawkins and Mike Terry/Ben Cort (UK, 1997-2001)
There are three titles in this Young Puffin Confident Readers series: A Monster of a Hamster (Elizabeth Hawkins and Mike Terry, 1997), Hamster and a Robbery (Elizabeth Hawkins and Ben Cort) and Hamster in Danger (Elizabeth Hawkins and Mike Terry).
Hammy House of Horror by Kaye Umansky and Chris Fisher (1998)
This a retelling of the story of "Dracula" in which all the characters are replaced by rodents.
Published by Hodder Children's.
Stanley the Troublemaker (Home Farm Twins Summer Special) by Jenny Oldfield (1998)
This is an especially hilarious book for people involved in the hamster fancy because it centres around Stanley the Syrian Hamster being entered into a Hamster Show put on by the Lakeland Hamster Club (a fictional club supposedly affiliated to the National Hamster Council), with all the 'interesting' personalities of the adult hamster club members that involves!
Published by Hodder Children's.
The Golden Hamster Saga by Dietlof Reiche and Joe Cepeda (Germany, 1998-2003)
The Golden Hamster Saga was originally written in German, these books are the English (US) translations by John Brownjohn (translated 2003-2007). Spanish translations by María Falcón Quintana are aso available. There are five books in the series: in English these are: 'I, Freddy' (US title)/Freddy on the Loose (UK title), Freddy in Peril, Freddy to the Rescue, The Haunting of Freddy and Freddy's Final Quest.
The Freddy series have somewhat more sophisticated storylines than average, including mad scientists, meeting with field hamsters, ghosts and even time travel. They follow the life of a hamster who speaks in the telepathic language of 'interanimal' with animals and by typing on a computer keyboard with humans. The storylines are very self-aware, as each book is supposedly written by Freddy the Hamster and then published, so as the series goes on the characters begin to come into contact with more and more people who have read the earlier books and heard about Freddy's unusual abilities. The stories are such as success within their own universe, in fact, that by Book Five the characters are invited to come and watch a dramatisation of the second book being performed.
In the first book in the series, Freddy is brought home from the pet shop by a little girl called Sophie and learns to read by watching her do her homework. However, he is forced to leave her household and in his new home he meets the recurring characters for the rest of the series: Sir William the civilised tomcat, Enrico and Caruso the theatrical guinea-pigs and their owner Mr John (who works as a German/English translator - blurring fantasy with reality given that the translator of these books from German to English is also called John). The majority of the book sets the scene for the rest of the series, getting most of its own plot from the uncertainty of Freddy's changing position until he finally settles into his adult home.
"Freddy in Peril" really gets the Golden Hamster Saga into its stride, with the introduction of dandruff-ridden Professor Fleischkopf (Meathead), a hamster vivisectionist who wants to cut up Freddy's brain to prove his theory on the mechanisms of hamster intellect. The story goes largely as could be predicted, with daring exploits of kidnap, pursuit, escape and rescue (not necessarily in that order!) and the help of a colony of local sewer rats, but more sensitive younger readers may be alarmed by some of the more threatening turns of phrase in the lab, where no holds are barred to impress on the reader that the Professor has already killed hamsters in their hundreds using the equipment within.
In "Freddy to the Rescue" the gang help to save a colony of Field Hamsters (the European/Black Bellied hamster, which lives wild in Germany).
"The Haunting of Freddy"
Pogo and Pip (Best Friends: 2) by Jenny Dale and Susan Hellard (2002)
This story describes the friendship between a guinea-pig and a hamster.
Day of the Hamster (Buster Bayliss) by Philip Reeve and Steve May (2002)
When this was republished in 2007 this book got a very different cover - one version has an illustration of giant hamster peering over rooftops at fleeing humans, the other is largely purple and black swirling into a cartoon-style picture of the hero.
The Frank Series by Livi Michael and Derek Brazell (2002)
There are four books in this series: Frank and the Black Hamster of Narkiz (2002), Frank and the Chamber of Fear, Frank and the Flames of Truth and Frank and the New Narkiz. Each book follows Frank (an ordinary pet shop hamster) through an adventure as he struggles for freedom for himself and ideally the whole of hamsterkind.
The Frank books show a great deal more critical thinking and exploration of how a hamster might be culturally different from a human than the average 'hamster viewpoint' book (in which the hamsters are often physically hamster and enjoy seeds and wheels, but are really mentally very human). The Syrian origin of golden hamsters and their subsequent development as pets is made significant to the Frank storylines, as are other hamster behaviours such as eating of the young and the ability to suddenly put in an extra spurt of speed to escape a situation - making all the hamster characters much more rounded and deep than usual and exploring well known areas of hamster lore that don't usually make it into fiction. The series as a whole also encourages hamster welfare and good pet care as it thoroughly explores the consequences for the hamsters when bad things are done to them, striking a good balance between not underplaying the impact of human actions on pets whilst also not being gratuitous or horrific (the series as a whole remains closer to I, Houdini and the Humphrey books than to Watership Down). A wide variety of attitudes to hamsters being kept as caged pets at all are shown, from hamsters who enjoy living in the lap of luxury, through various degrees of independence/pragmatic appreciation of being looked after to being terrified of their owners.
Frank and the Black Hamster of Narkiz introduces Frank and his living situation as a pet - Frank lives in a terraced house with his grown-up male owner whilst along the terrace there are other pet hamsters living in different situations. When Frank inevitably makes his bid for freedom and escapes he is able to explore and interact with the other households, setting the scene for a story about how they all face challenges ranging from the mundane (such as children who play roughly, and a passing reference to a hamster being killed by a vacumn cleaner) to the darkly supernatural (the mysterious and worrying Black Hamster of Narkiz).
The Case of the Psychic Hamster: Secret File #4 (The Freaky Joe Club) by P.J. McMahon and John Manders (2005)
Roberto, Hamster on a Mission by Marti Leimbach and Imogen Rolfe (2005)
This is another Christian hamster book.
The According to Humphrey Series by Betty G. Birney (USA, 2005-ongoing)
The "...according to Humphrey" series follows the conceit that each book is written directly into in a tiny hidden notebook by Humphrey the Hamster, who lives in a cage in classroom 26 in an American primary school. New books are still being written, but already the series includes the following titles: The World, Adventure, More Adventures, Holidays, School, Friendship, Trouble, Surprises and Mysteries, as well as spin-off 'fun books' and the Humphrey's Tiny Tales range for younger readers. There is an official website for fans of the series which contains full details of Betty Birney and the Humphrey books including pictures of both their US and UK covers and downloadable fun activities based on some of them - "Fun with Humphrey" is another official site (from the UK publishers) based on the series.
In "The World according to Humphrey" the scene is set for the series - Humphrey is brought to the classroom and provided with his first notebook by the lovely Ms Mac, but when she is replaced as class teacher by the more fearsome Mrs Brisbane, Humphrey is assigned to be taken home and looked after at a different household every weekend. This is fortunately right up Humphrey's street, as it provides him with opportunities to cleverly help each of the humans who look after him, as well as giving a brief hamster's eye view into a very culturally diverse set of American households. Unusually, this book does not rely on accidental hamster escape to provide the main plotline - although Humphrey does sometimes come and go from his cage for specific reasons his actions are all deliberate and intended benevolently towards the humans, whom he tries to educate.
Harriet the Hamster Fairy (Rainbow Magic) by Daisy Meadows and Georgie Ripper (2006)
This is one of a series of books showcasing “Pet Keeper” fairies associated with different animals, which are themselves a subset of a much wider range of “Rainbow Magic” fairy books with different themes (Jewel, Weather, Pop-Star, etc). The official website for the Rainbow Magic fairies is here. The Rainbow Magic books follow Kirsty Tate and Rachel Walker as they interact with fairies. The books are written by a variety of authors under the shared name “Daisy Meadows”.
Hershel the Hanukkah Hamster: the Forgotten Hanukkah Story by Kevin T. Lasky (2006)
Self-published and now scarce.
The Mouse that thought it was a Hamster by Kyle Lenhart Wees (2008)
This is now a scarce hamster book.
The Stories of George the Hamster by "George The Hamster", Lee H. Smith and Kathleen Smith (2008)
Self-published through Shedhead. A Christian hamster book.
A Very Special Hamster Named Stumpy by Nicole Angelique La Brunda (2008)
Self-published through XLibris.
The Hammy the Wonder Hamster Series by Poppy Harris (UK, 2008-2010)
Hammy the Wonder Hamster was just an ordinary hamster...until he ended up accidentally pouching an experimental "microspeck" artificial intelligence device which granted him superhuman mental abilities. In this four book series the self-named Hamilton and his owner Bethany conceal his extraordinary understanding to go about their ordinary lives (although Hamilton speaks to Bethany by typing text messages into her mobile phone) whilst unknown to them, the inventor of the microspeck struggles in their wake to get it back. The "Wonder Hamster" books are: Hammy the Wonder Hamster (2008), Happy Christmas Hammy the Wonder Hamster (2009), Too Cool for School Hammy the Wonder Hamster (2010) and Happy Holiday Hammy The Wonder Hamster.
The first book in the series tells the story of Hamilton's unnatural intelligence. In ten chapters it follows the exploits of Tim Taverner the post-doctoral computer scientist and also thoroughly describes Hamilton's journey from pet shop to being part of the family. The pace is fairly evenly maintained throughout the book with occasional moments of pantomime suspense caused by the unsuspected threat that Taverner might pose to Hamilton and a short sequence involving a petcare lesson from the family rabbit Bobby, but overall the book ends fairly suddenly with no real climax to the story to round it off - it very much has an "end of part one" feel.
"Happy Christmas Hammy the Wonder Hamster" continues where the first book left off, although now it is December and so Bethany and Hamilton are thinking about Christmas. Whilst Bethany, her best friend Chloe and little brother Sam practice for the end-of-term show at school, Hamilton sets about trying to provide a White Christmas for Bethany (including a perilous brush with real snow), and Taverner continues to stalk his precious microspeck. Overall the result is remarkably as if the hamster Humphrey from the 'according to Humphrey' books had starred in "Hamster in the Holly" from Animal Ark, but generally improved by the addition of the hapless and disconnected villain as a wider plot.
Previews of these books can be read online for free: Hammy the Wonder Hamster, Happy Christmas, Too Cool For School and Happy Holiday.
The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies and Hannah Shaw (2009)
'The Great Hamster Massacre' is unusual in featuring dwarf hamsters rather than a single Syrian. It is also available in a dual book with "Rabbit Rescue", called "Great Animal Antics".
This book has a very strong resemblance to "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time" by Mark Haddon, although the first-person narrative/diary is written by a child investigating the rather grisly fate of their new dwarf hamsters and the book does not include the themes of autism or parental break-up.
Little Shop of Hamsters (Goosebumps Horrorland) - R.L. Stine (2010)
The "Little Shop of Hamsters" is the 14th book in a series based around the spooky and grotesque Horrorland amusement park and is part of a larger plot arc within that series spanning at least six books linked together by contact with the joke shop of Jonathan Chiller, "Chiller House".
This book might be improved by already knowing a little about the setting before starting to read, as only a very basic redescription is given and this can leave the uninformed reader somewhat vague on what sort of world the main characters are in until quite a way into the story.
The plot follows Sam (a boy who needs to demonstrate responsibility in order to be allowed a pet) and his best friend Lexi (a girl who constantly brings accidental trouble down on Sam) as they discover a new shop that has opened up in the park, selling only 'cute, cuddly' hamsters. The shop set-up is rather unrealistic, as it is based around a single 'bedroom-sized' walk-in cage containing 'hundreds' of hamsters living in harmony together with apparently no territorial fighting or uncontrolled breeding. However, it is also fairly clear that realism has very little place anywhere in this series and this oddly inert depiction may also be an intentional choice - the author (or possibly just the characters whose viewpoint we follow) portrays hamsters as completely viceless, fluffy, toy-like animals which then adds absurdity to the situation when they act aggressively. With a different writing style and harsher description of the species some scenes could easily have turned out more like the rather darker rat scene in "1984".
As it is, the "horror" in this book is fairly mild and largely based around fear/revulsion of being attacked by animals (not just hamsters) rather than horrific consequences of attacks. Every chapter ends on a sudden cliffhanger but most of these are immediately resolved in the first lines of the next section - anyone wishing to tone down the drama could easily stop reading in mid-chapter for a lot less suspense.
The Adventures of Lothilorlas the White Hamster: The Beginning: 1 by Alicia Alex (2010)
This book was self-published through CreateSpace
Harry the Hamster Learns a Lesson by Claudia Schmidt Liess (2010)
Self-published through AuthorHouse.
Return of the Hungry Hamster (Undead Pets) by Sam Hay (2012)
This book is illustrated by Simon Cooper.
Attack of the Giant Hamster (Dr. Roach's Monstrous Stories) by Paul Harrison, Sam Williams and Tom Knight (2012)
The Hamster and the Gecko: - A Survivors' Story - by R K Raker (2012)
Self-published through CreateSpace.
The Story of Hennelie Hamster RUNNING WILD At Christmas time on a farm in Zimbabwe: A Christmas Story by Nikki Ziehl (2012)
Self-published through CreateSpace. A Christian hamster book.
The Hamsters' Great Escape: The Story of a Hamster Family's Incredible Journey by Alan Whichello, Fiona Roper and Stuart Roper (2012)
Self-published through Red Cap.
