Product Description

The countdown to bedtime is about to begin when a family of hamsters arrives at the front door. "All aboard," shouts the child's pet hamster, and it's off to the kitchen for a snack, to the bathroom for toothbrushing, to the bedroom for a story. And just as the child starts to read, more hamsters stream through the front door and the escapades accelerate as the countdown continues. Now in a sturdy board book format, this favorite bedtime book is ready for a younger audience.

Tales about stalling bedtime abound but none more cleverly than Rathmann's humorous picture book....Children will pore over the comical details." (School Library Journal, starred review)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #254443 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

From Amazon.com
"Ten minutes till bedtime!" Father announces from behind his newspaper. Out a picture window, his son and his son's pet hamster can see a hamster family (with kids numbered 1 to 10) approaching the house. "All aboard!" shouts the boy's prized pet, as his puzzled owner opens the door and the hamster tourists are loaded onto the special trolley. What the humans at 1 Hoppin Place don't know is that their cherished family pet has advertised on the Web (www.hamstertours.com) for a "10-Minute Bedtime Tour," and the hordes have only just begun to descend.

"Nine minutes till bedtime," Father insists, oblivious to the burgeoning hamster parade. At the 8-minute marker, the hamsters and the boy are in the kitchen for a pre-bedtime snack. One little guy is standing on top of a fruit bowl, lowering a cherry cluster with a string and paper clip. Hamster number 10 is trying to feed an animal cracker to the boy's fuzzy bedroom slipper. "Seven minutes till bedtime!" reminds Father as creative tooth-brushing progresses. But what's this? It's the 5-minute countdown marker, and the faint light of hamster headlights appears out the window. More tourists are on their way! Buses, trucks, taxis, and golf carts full of rodents are driving up the sidewalk! Hilarious hamster hijinks ensue. If you're not seeing the appeal here, it's like this: each spread is turbocharged with dozens of winsome, adorable details that will keep youngsters giggling and entranced--and counting to 10--time after time. Peggy Rathmann, author of the Caldecott Medal-winning Officer Buckle and Gloria, offers readers a rollicking rodent romp that ends with a goodnight kiss and many, many closed eyelids. (Click to see a sample spread. Copyright © 1998 Peggy Rathmann, published by Putnam Books, a division of Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers.) (Ages 2 to 8) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly
Caldecott Medalist Rathmann (Officer Buckle and Gloria) builds a captivating series of mini-plots from a basic countdown premise with few words and abundant action. A child?who could be a girl or boy?plays with an energetic hamster family with just 10 minutes to go before she's tucked into bed. As the child's father idly reads the newspaper and clocks the passing time ("9 minutes till bedtime"), a rotund hamster in a blue conductor's uniform echoes each announcement with a tiny megaphone. Meanwhile, the hamster parents and their 10 active offspring, distinguishable by numbered yellow-and-red striped jerseys, frolic throughout the house. Rathmann endows each with a distinctive personality: Numbers 3 and 4 are twins, 8 shows only its rear end and stroller-bound toddler 10 declares "eat" and "more!" After additional golden-brown rodents arrive (in Goodnight Gorilla fashion) at the front door (raising the count to well above 50), the child reads this very book to a vast audience, takes a bath surrounded by furry beachgoers (and lotion, ants and sunglasses galore), then hurries through other pre-bed rituals before a final cry of "Bedtime!" Every engrossing illustration provides an exercise in numerals and Where's Waldo?-style concentration; die-hard fans will not only count Gorilla among the throngs, but Officer Buckle opens and closes the show, and young readers will note Rathmann's return to Napville for this nocturnal adventure. If Rathmann has her way, young slumberers will be counting hamsters, not sheep, as they drift off to sleep. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5^-7. Busy is the operative word for Rathmann's latest picture book, with some of the setup beginning rather awkwardly on the page preceding the title page. The freewheeling, cartoonlike artwork tells the tale, picturing the activities of a group of hamsters, whose "10-minute Bedtime Tour" coincides with the countdown routine of a little boy getting ready for bed. Mom and Dad hamster arrive with their 10 hamster children, each one distinctive in some way--number 6 wears a backpack; number 8 never shows its face; number 10 is the baby, etc.--presumably so that each can easily be spotted as the events unfold. The gimmick is the sort that kids love. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up here: the hamsters are too small, the numbers on their shirts aren't always clear, and after hordes of other tiny hamsters unaccountably arrive for the last few minutes of the tour, finding a favorite character becomes more frustrating than fun. Children will love the more obvious gags--a hamster swinging from a jockey-shorts parachute, glimpses of old friends Officer Buckle and Gloria (who have nothing to do with the story), and the fact that the hamster family decides to stay--but such amusing particulars aside, this is more chaotic than comfortable--and despite the title, it is not the best choice for easing kids into bedtime. Stephanie Zvirin

Customer Reviews

Enjoyed by both a 6 year old and 2 year old!
This wonderful book can be enjoy by toddlers and "Big" Kids. My 6 year old niece loved to "read" this book to her 2 year old cousin. The two year old would pick out hamesters and the 6 year old made up stories about them. Both children had so much fun "reading" this book together. The text is very simple - the pictures tell most of the story. And what stories they can tell! Have fun exploring out the pictures with your special little (or big!) one.

*Great* book, but get the hardcover vs. the board book
My children adore this book, so we've read it many, many times. They still squeal with delight and laughter. There is so much detail, that you can't help but discover something new with each reading (keeping it entertaining for mom and dad as well as Junior). My one recommendation is that you buy the hardcover version versus the board book. We have both. The board book lacks some of the detail of the original.

What fun!
This is a really cute book, although there's not much reading involved. It's about a boy and his hamster who give a "10 Minute Bedtime Tour" to a family of hamsters. Each of the 10 little hamster children has a personality all his own, and it's great fun looking over each page to see what they are up to. (One of the hamsters is even a scrapbooker!)