Kaethe

1998December 26***This was a Christmas present from me to Mike the year we were waiting for the Possum. The Spouse had been fond of saying that the hamsters came and threw a party and wrecked the place while he was sleeping, so I gave him a book in which the hamsters came and got into trouble.2001 Jan 13***One of the most beloved picture books we have. I don't know how it came up the other night, but I told the girls why I'd given their father a copy of it. So then Tash wanted to read it again but she couldn't find our copy (I suspect it is packed away with other toddler delights). Last night we went to the library and she asked me to get it for her. She read it while the Spouse and I were fixing supper. After supper she wanted to read it together, with me providing the father's voice, and she, the hamsters. And then Veronica came in, and she hadn't read it in forever, so we all went through it again. We had to look in amazement at the pictures of the book within the book, we had to find the ten little hamsters in every picture (the girls didn't remember that they are each doing a distinctive thing in each spread [like 9 is always up high, and 8 is always hiding his/her head under something]), and we had to laugh in delight at the stuffed gorilla, and the stuffed [b:Officer Buckle & Gloria|857445|Officer Buckle & Gloria|Peggy Rathmann|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348468943s/857445.jpg|325563], and at the shadows of [b:Good Night, Gorilla|773276|Good Night, Gorilla|Peggy Rathmann|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347227009s/773276.jpg|2992071] in the background.A good picture book delights a child on repeated reading. A brilliant picture book delights adults and children on repeated viewing. This is one of the ten best picture books of all time.Library copy