Hamtaro Gets Lost & Other Stories

The Adventures of Hamtaro #2

by Ritsuko Kawai

The Adventures of Hamtaro

Meet the one and only original Hamtaro—the inspiration for the hit animation series—exactly as his creator, Ritsuko Kawai, first imagined him. This charming series of richly illustrated, classic children's tales follows our intrepid hero, hamster Hamtaro, as his adventures take him from pet shop to home to Ham-Ham Clubhouse to the great outdoors and beyond....

Volume 2: Hamtaro Gets Lost & Other Stories

In this volume, Hamtaro continues his adventures in his new home with Yukari. Hamtaro makes a friend, has a tummy-ache, gets into trouble for unauthorized gnawing, celebrates Christmas in his own unique way, and even falls in love! But that's not all....

When Hamtaro can't resist frolicking in a bag of colorful wrapping paper, he ends up accidentally getting put out with the garbage! Will Yukari find her furry little friend? Or will they never see each other again!?

Plus, more stories, hamster trivia, puzzle, arts and crafts, and a fold-out Ham-Ham Clubhouse!

Genres: Manga, Picture Books

92 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Ritsuko Kawai (河井 リツ子 Kawai Ritsuko, born March 3, 1964) is a Japanese manga artist known as the creator of the Hamtaro franchise. She was born in Osaka, Japan, and received a design degree from Kyoto Saga University of Arts. After graduation, she set out to Tokyo to seek her fortune as a comic-book artist.

Kawai originally created Hamtaro as storybooks for children first published in 1997 (serialized in Shogaku Ni Nensei, a magazine for Japanese schoolchildren published by Shogakukan) and adapted into an anime television series in Japan in July 2000. The animation series based on her Hamtaro books began broadcasting in English in the United States in July of 2002. Her Hamtaro books have sold more than 6 million copies in Japan.

Other than Hamtaro, Ritsuko Kawai has created other shōjo manga, serialized in Ciao magazine.

Reviews

[gretch · Rating 5 out of 5]

i can’t wait to show these books to my niece lol. she’s gonna love them

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my (almost) 6 year old son. He has since declared Hamtaro to be his favorite character! This was a fun read-aloud, it also included some interactive games, like: find all the hamsters in this picture kind of stuff. It also had information about having a pet hamster. The only slightly questionable stuff, in terms of content, were the mention of "droppings" (which to a 6 year old is hilarious, but some people might be turned off by that, and the female hamster that moves in with Hamtaro, and they "are very close" at night, then she has babies... It would have been a good conversation starter if I had wanted to have THAT conversation! I think Hamtaro is cute and fun, and very appealing to kids of different ages, boys AND girls, and even some parents... including me!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamtaro Gets Lost is a compilation of a variety of stories about Hamtaro, a little hamster that a little girl named Yukari adopted. Hamtaro and Yukari have a very close relationship as the hamster is constantly interested about what Yukari is doing. Hamtaro is a bit of a troublemaker so most of the stories involve him doing something he probably should not be doing and eventually finding his way back to redemption. The book has a lot of fun facts about hamsters, with Hamtaro displaying many of the facts that the book states. Throughout the different stories, Hamtaro and Yukari really solidify their bond and love for each with both of them looking out for the other. In the last story, Yukari gives Hamtaro an arranged married by moving a female hamster next to him. Hamtaro is immediately curious about Momo to the point he breaks out of his cage to see her. The next day, Momo is moved into his cage and they spend a lot of time together even though Momo basically bullies Hamtaro. After that day, she is moved back to her own cage where Hamtaro doesn't see her for a few days. Once he finally sees Momo, he also sees a bunch of a baby hamsters too, implying that Hamtaro and Momo had children and that's where the story ends.

This book has many, many different styles to it but the one that is mostly used is the illustrators drawings of Hamtaro which appears to be with pencil. The color of the pencil varies, often times a shade of blue or black. The shading of Hamtaro is always the same, as if the illustrator took great care in making sure he never changed. The book also has realistic photos of hamsters so the readers can see how they look in real life, even dedicating a page to different kinds of hamsters. The text of the book changes throughout, with some parts being in Yukari's handwriting and voice and other parts being in plain text but Hamtaro's voice. The book is very interactive for readers as it has a maze with hamster facts the kids can follow, a game where they have to count hamsters and find objects in a house, and a few more. This really keeps readers interested and engaged with the story as it's a good break from the actual reading part.

[WinterBat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit of everything: short stories presented via comics (with slightly more words than regular comics), interactive games, tidbits about hamsters, how to make hamster crafts, diary entries… There’s something to enjoy for any child reader, no matter the reading level. Lovely drawings and stories with heart.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique and fun

[Arianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining. There was a discrepancy with hamster breed names though

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I forgot I had this and was delighted to find and read it again. I wanted to buy the other two to complete the set, but apparently they're all collector's items now and stupid expensive. :(

[Mackenzie Manley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extra points for the hamster named Momo

[τλιϓλ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it.

[Tatum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Momo & Hamtaro!