Anna and her brother Tom really, really want a hamster. After pestering their mother she gives in and buys not one but two hamsters from the local pet shop. The siblings are very excited to have their new pets but excitement turns to horror when the animals are found dead in their cage. Anna, Tom and next door neighbor Suzanne set out to find out what cause the hamster massacre. This is a weird book. I picked it up because of the cover and I thought it might be funny, but it’s not really funny. I think the problem is it is not sure what kind of book it is. It starts out funny and has silly illustrations but then it takes a weird turn. Anna and Tom’s grandmother dies and that is kind of glossed over, you find out why their mother really doesn’t want hamsters and the story is a bit gruesome. Then the hamster massacre! All I can say is wow! It turns out that one of the hamsters is a girl and pregnant. She gives birth to eight baby hamsters. The next day, the mother hamster is found half dead with one leg missing, the boy hamster is missing and all eight babies are dead. The vet says that the mother killed her babies because the male hamster was jealous. Then the male hamster attacked the female hamster and chewed her leg off. Anna does not believe that this is what happened and she, Tom and Suzanne set out to find out the true story. Well, there isn’t a mystery at all, what the vet said happened, really happened. It is just a weird book! I can see students being so upset about the hamster massacre. I think hamsters are just rats with cuter outfits and I was disturbed by the gruesome death of the animals. The fact that there is not really much of a story added to my dislike of this book. I would not recommend this book. 
A book a day for a whole summer= 74 books!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Day 24: The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies
Anna and her brother Tom really, really want a hamster. After pestering their mother she gives in and buys not one but two hamsters from the local pet shop. The siblings are very excited to have their new pets but excitement turns to horror when the animals are found dead in their cage. Anna, Tom and next door neighbor Suzanne set out to find out what cause the hamster massacre. This is a weird book. I picked it up because of the cover and I thought it might be funny, but it’s not really funny. I think the problem is it is not sure what kind of book it is. It starts out funny and has silly illustrations but then it takes a weird turn. Anna and Tom’s grandmother dies and that is kind of glossed over, you find out why their mother really doesn’t want hamsters and the story is a bit gruesome. Then the hamster massacre! All I can say is wow! It turns out that one of the hamsters is a girl and pregnant. She gives birth to eight baby hamsters. The next day, the mother hamster is found half dead with one leg missing, the boy hamster is missing and all eight babies are dead. The vet says that the mother killed her babies because the male hamster was jealous. Then the male hamster attacked the female hamster and chewed her leg off. Anna does not believe that this is what happened and she, Tom and Suzanne set out to find out the true story. Well, there isn’t a mystery at all, what the vet said happened, really happened. It is just a weird book! I can see students being so upset about the hamster massacre. I think hamsters are just rats with cuter outfits and I was disturbed by the gruesome death of the animals. The fact that there is not really much of a story added to my dislike of this book. I would not recommend this book. 
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Eek. That just sounds strange - I can't imagine students liking this book either. And the cover is so promising too! Bummer.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work on all this reading - a book a day is super impressive! ;)