Book reviews by Mobilism's Book Review team
Oct 23rd, 2014, 3:39 pm
Image

TITLE: The World According to Humphrey
AUTHOR: Betty G. Birney
GENRE: Fiction, YA
PUBLISHED: 2005
RATING: ★★★★★
PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon
MOBILISM LINK: Download

We all have guilty pleasures. For me, books are one of the guiltiest, because I have a secret. I download and read the “smart books”. I can discuss whatever romance novels are currently in vogue and probably even recommend someone an urban fantasy novel or two. However, when the world falls down around me and things feel like they’re never going to be right again? I turn to kid’s books. Not YA, actual kid’s books.

The World According to Humphrey (and the rest of Betty G. Birney’s loveable series) has gotten me through deaths, layoffs, and surgery. I defy anyone to resist a hamster with a can-do attitude and a sense of wonder about the world he’s being brought into – I certainly can’t.

Humphrey is the classroom hamster for Room 26 at Longfellow School. He’s bequeathed to the room from Ms. Mac - the wonderful, if hippy-ish lady who finds Humphrey at the Pet-O-Rama. According to her...
You can learn a lot about yourself by taking care of another species… You’ll teach those kids a thing or two.

He learns the lessons that the classes are being taught and takes notes in a tiny hamster-sized notebook he stashes behind the mirror in his cage. While he’s observing, he takes note of the children who struggle, whether with tardiness, shyness, or the normal (but never quite right) fights that happen within any group of kids. His solutions to their issues are always wise and involve incredible feats of bravery.

Every night, he keeps the night janitor, Aldo, company as he figures out how to navigate the world of those who work weird hours (and the loneliness that comes hand in hand with being out of step with his friends.)
The two of us shared a very pleasant meal as Aldo told me about how he used to have a regular job where he worked during the day. But then his company closed down and he couldn’t find a job for a long time. He couldn’t even pay the rent when he was lucky enough to get hired here at Longfellow School. He was glad to get the job but it’s lonely working at night because his friends work during the day. They can never get together like they used to.

I tried to squeak to him about all the creatures like me that are also nocturnal…

The real magic happens when Humphrey goes home for the weekend with his roommates – as you can imagine, just about everyone wants to take him home. When Humphrey sees the home environments, he often has clever ideas as to how to fix their problems. Aided by his ‘door that doesn’t really lock’, he endures crazy dangers to implement his ideas, but he’s never quite happy – always looking for someone else to help and a way to win over the teacher who inherited him.
As I waited for Aldo to arrive, I sat into the darkening room and pondered my job as a classroom pet. Had I really accomplished anything? Mr. Morales’s children seemed to settle down when I was there. Sayeh’s mother began to learn English. And Sayeh would probably never have sung in front of the class without my encouragement.

Still. Mrs. Brisbane was not won over.

The entire book is full of smiles – I can think of no other way to describe it. I bought them all in paperback before they were available in eBook and cheerfully repurchased them all and gifted the physical books to a friend’s classroom. I might be a little embarrassed to admit that a hamster fixing schoolchildren’s lives is one of my favourite things, but I am not ashamed.

My name is Emmy. I read kid’s books as comfort food for my mind. And I count this book (and the series that follows) as one of the things that can turn one of my bad days around. For that reason, I don’t hesitate to give five stars where five stars are deserved.
Oct 23rd, 2014, 3:39 pm
Oct 27th, 2014, 1:53 am
Well this sounds CHARMING. Did you read any of the Olga da Polga books when you were a kid? Somewhat similar, to my rusty memory, she was a guinea pig who had lots of adventures, she came from the deepest darkest... something of Lima Peru. :)
Oct 27th, 2014, 1:53 am

I am currently on inactive status and am not uploading or renewing links for the present. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Nov 10th, 2014, 7:22 pm
Well this just rofl's-my-copter.

Made me chuckle-for-reals. NO, REALLY, I JUST CHUCKLED. THE LAST TIME I DID THAT WAS WHEN I REALIZED THAT MY BOOGERS SMELLED LIKED BURNT RAISINS...TASTE LIKE 'EM TOO!!!

Anyways. It seems that this is a series? And figuring in how I'm switching between the Mobile version of the site, and the mobile version of the site, I'll just never know whether or not there were any links there on. I'll just never know what happens to the poor over-encephalized caterpillar at the end of "The very hungry caterpillar". Or whether that zookeeper ends up turning that curious monkey into Ginger-Spice-Flavored bush-meat, Ebola style. I'll never find Waldo. I'll never figure out Who's a who, and I'll DEFINITELY never find out whether or nit he likes "Green Eggs and Ham, Sam-I am".

But seriously. Thanks a ton for turning me on to the series. Which one is the first? Could you PL me if there's a collection/series/1st book lying around somewhere?

You rock!
Nov 10th, 2014, 7:22 pm