I have no idea why hamsters keep appearing in children’s books but here is another one.

This book is daft and was pretty good as a dead easy aloud read before bed. It’s a mystery involving, you guessed it, a missing hamster. The two main characters, Smashie and Dontel, set about solving the puzzle. They are likeable, if frankly a little odd, and there are some laugh out loud moments which made it enjoyable to read aloud.

In general it’s fairly simple to read so I’d say age 7-10, but there are several words in there that just wouldn’t work for a younger reader like “incredulously” and even “imprimateur”, the latter of which I had to look up and still didn’t know what it meant afterwards.

I also have a slight bug bear that it reads as if it’s been written ready for the American market, even though it’s first published in the UK. I’ve never heard a child say the word “swell” and I know quite a few.

All in all it’s fun.