When I received a copy of The Great Hamster Massacre by Katie Davies from Simon & Schuster for review – I was a bit skeptical.
At first glance, the book looks lively and entertaining – presented in a Diary of a Wimpy Kid kind of way.
But then the title starts to sink in … hamster massacre? … that doesn’t really sound like a fun and friendly children’s book to me.
But with an open mind – I gave it a read.
Before your read further – this post is a spoiler – so stop if you want to read The Great Hamster Massacre yourself first.
The Plus Side
On the plus side this book is beautifully illustrated. I love the little cartoons, the use of a variety of fonts, and the corporation of all shades of black and white. On the outside it looks like a chapter book but on the inside it reads like a diary or a notebook.
The main character is a nine year old girl named Anna and the author speaks to that level perfectly. This book is Anna’s notebook about the events leading up to and after her hamsters were found missing, injured, and dead.
Anna’s voice is typical of a nine year old child – and I think that is appealing to kids of this age.
As a parent – I really like the way the author inserted dictionary definitions throughout the text – as seen in the image below. The characters actually looked up big words often as part of the story.
Where There is a Plus, There is a Minus
While the look of the book is just too cute, I found the content to be a bit, well … disturbing.
There is a lot of death involved.
First there is Old Cat – that got run over by a mean neighbor lady.
Then there is New Cat – that lurks and hunts, and probably cause Old Rabbit’s death due to a heart attack.
We next learn of Mom’s childhood hamster experiences – one died from being squeezed in half by a sliding glass door. And the other died by choking on a fancy green coat that it was chewing up.
Grandma is the one telling the stories of Mom’s hamsters – and grandma is the next to die, in her sleep.
In her grief over Grandma – Mom gives in and buys Anna and her younger brother hamsters. One of which becomes pregnant (even though both were supposed to be female).
The morning after the babies are born – Anna awakes to find the cage bloody. The eight babies are dead, the mommy hamster has blood around it’s mouth and it is missing one leg (it also dies within days). The other hamster has disappeared.
Whodunit?
That is the big question. And Anna, her friend Suzanne, and her brother are on a mission to find out.
But first they must bury the hamsters in separate coffins made out of matchboxes. They also take the time to dig up dead Old Rabbit and bury him properly in a box.
They compile a list of suspects, including New Cat.
Also on their list are a few neighbors including 3 mean ones.
One is the boyfriend of the Mom of the boy who owned Old Rabbit (and now New Rabbit). This boyfriend (who did got give Old Rabbit a proper burial the first time) has run off with the babysitter.
Another is Suzanne’s dad that yells all the time.
In the end – they don’t really know whether the Mom hamster was the culprit, the missing hamster, or the New Cat.
I guess it becomes a Cold Case.
So – use your judgement. Maybe kids like this kind of stuff but I am having difficulty with it.
{ 2 comments }
