Memoirs of a Hamster

Night 1 / My life is perfect. / I have a bowl full of seeds, a cozy pile of wood shavings, and room to run. / I'm never leaving here. / Question: Who's the luckiest hamster in the world? / Answer: ME! Seymour the hamster has the perfect life. He has a spacious cage, a constant food supply, and a FuzzyBoy 360 exercise wheel that lets him run to his heart's content. Life could not be better. Or could it? When Pearl the cat tells Seymour of the goodies beyond the safe confines of his cage, he starts to think he's missing out. And out is the new in! It's only after Seymour is out of his cage that he begins to fully appreciate his safe and cozy home.

Alabama Camellia's Children's Choice Award, Winner

2015-2016 Morning Calm Award from Korea, Winner

Grand Canyon Reader Award, Winner, 2018

Great Lakes Great Books Award (Grades 2 – 3), Short-listed, 2014

2014 IRA/CBC Children's Choices List, Winner, 2014

Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, Commended, 2014

2014-2015 Washington Children's Choice Book Award, Long-listed, 2014

Creative Child Award Seal of Excellence Award, Winner, 2013

School Library Journal

Seymour, a hamster, has the ideal life, according to his day-by-day memoir. He’s got a bowl of seeds, a full water bottle, and a cozy bed of wood shavings. And it gets even better when the FuzzyBoy 360 exercise wheel arrives. Now Seymour’s day is filled with activity and the delicious yogurt drops brought to him by Little Girl. He couldn’t want for anything more, right? Wrong. When a wily cat starts talking about the wonders of the sunroom filled with yogurt drops, the gullible hamster escapes the cage to discover what he’s missing. What he discovers is a dog, the cat, and an “enormous monster” called Hoover that is very dangerous to small rodents. Bowers’s representational artwork captures the life of a hamster well, and the facial expressions of the animals will delight young readers. There’s lots of white space and the text and pictures flow well, allowing readers to absorb the action. This title should hit the mark, especially in classrooms in which hamsters are in residence.