Book Review: Real Hamsters Don’t Bite

What could cause a bunch of hamsters to start attacking cats? You can find out in the new book Real Hamsters Don’t Bite, by Alexis Cleoford.

In this book for readers ages 7–15, you will meet Mighty the Cat and his brother (or co-cat), Brennon. Life is almost perfect for Mighty, except when he feels stuck, like when he’s in the cat dungeon (a.k.a. the pet hotel). Even after he and Brennon get back home, all Mighty wants is to find a place where cats are treated like kings. I think we all want that, don’t we? So when he sees a commercial for something called Cat Land, he decides to go there to get away from it all for a while. Mighty and Brennon take off, hopping a random truck that they hope will take them to Cat Land (not the best way to travel, by the way!).

Meanwhile, there is something weird going on with the local hamsters. They’ve started attacking cats, for reasons unknown. There’s also yellow goo falling out of the sky. What’s up with all this? Mighty and Brennon will discover the truth, eventually, and along the way they’ll have quite a few adventures. They’ll also learn the value of being yourself and persisting in pursuing your goals.

Real Hamsters Don’t Bite is a cute book that has cat facts sprinkled throughout, which is a nice touch. We thought that the story could perhaps be better organized (we did “lose the plot” once or twice), and the ending felt a little incomplete. Nevertheless, we had a fun time with this book. What young person (or adult for that matter) hasn’t felt “stuck” at some time and wanted to go to their own version of Cat Land, only to find that this magical place isn’t what they expected?

A fun book!

A note on the "Paws Up" system: Miss C gives either one or two paws up. One paw is for a good read; two paws is for a great read. She never gives three or four paws because that would require her to lie on her back...and Miss C does not do that!

We received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. We wouldn’t tell you it was good unless we really liked it!

The link below is an Amazon Associates link. If you purchase the book through this link, old SoLT and I could get some coin for our kibble account. Thank you!