Age: 3rd-4th grade
Animals: Hamster

A great start to a series about Humphrey, the classroom hamster. I thought it clever that Humphrey was taken home by several students, providing various stories within one, and keeping the reader's interest. This is a good way to introduce readers to longer books without pictures by "restarting" the story several times.

Although there are some annoying features of the book (How exactly did a hamster learn to read and write? Why does he repeat things three times?), kids will love this adorable, caring little guy. A perfect book for girls and guys--a hard thing to achieve for this age group.