Daydreams of a Solitary Hamster, by Astrid Desbordes, illustrated by Pauline Martin, Enchanted Lion Books, $17.95, ages 4-8, 56 pages. Hamster thinks his friends Mole, Snail, Hedgehog and Rabbit rejoice at the sight of him, when in fact they see Hamster for exactly who he is, a friend who's wrapped up in himself, yet lovable nonetheless. This brilliant, amusing book is told through a series of cartoon panels, broken up into short vignettes, and shows to hilarious effect how oblivious Hamster is to the limits of his significance. In one story, he asks his friends to guess which extraordinary announcement he's going to make (a birthday bash for himself) and they all come up with things that are truly grand but have nothing to do with him: a snowstorm, an eclipse, an aurora borealis. Other chapters look in on his friends and give us a glimpse into things that matter to them. Hedgehog privately wishes he was soft like his friends and ponders whether he should wear a coat of moss over his quills to be more like them. Snail frets about being left out and overlooked because he's so small and slow-moving, and Mole is the comforting friend, who commiserates yet never wallows in her own misfortunes.
