Sonderbooks Book Review of The World According to Humphrey

****The World According to Humphrey*

by Betty G. Birney

Reviewed February 18, 2004.

G. P. Putnam Son’s, New York, 2004. 124 pages.
Available on Amazon.com for $10.49 in hardcover.
Available at Sembach Library (JF BIR).

Here’s a clever idea: Telling a story from the point of view of a classroom hamster. Humphrey was bought by a temporary fourth-grade teacher, who was teaching the class for six weeks while the regular teacher was tending her husband. Unfortunately, when Mrs. Brisbane comes back, she’s not happy about having a hamster in the classroom.

Humphrey gets to go home with a different child every weekend, and we watch him learn about humans and even affect their lives. The hamster sees what these kids are really like at home.

Here’s a light-reading and entertaining novel for readers in upper elementary school.

Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

***The World According to Humphrey

by Betty G. Birney

****The World According to Humphrey*