Review first published on my blog, Dragon Bite Books.

Hamsters Don’t Fight Fires! reminded me of the structure of Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse by Jonathan Stutzman—though this book I think is actually an easier read-aloud than is Stutzman’s—and the story is more sweet and less silly. It begins with a list of things at which Hugo the Hamster excels and a list of activities of which he is less capable. However, encouraged by his friend—Scarlett the green snake, who wants to be the first reptile in space, and who is later in the book seen reading a book about NASA (love that attention to detail and coherence to her character)—Hugo goes to the fire station. He is ready to give up, having discovered that the suit is too big, the pole too high, the hose too heavy, when the alarm sounds, and in the chaos of the firefighters getting ready, Hugo ends up in that too-big suit and on the back of the fire truck. At the site of the fire, a baby bird is imperiled but is too high in a tree for the firefighters with their equipment to reach. Hugo finds his place among the firefighters by racing up the tree. Where he is too small for their regulation gear, he is small enough to get onto the higher, less stable branches that the others cannot. The bird rescued, the firefighters celebrate. Hugo becomes a firefighter and learns that he can order a hamster-sized firesuit, along with a bunch of other odds and ends, online.

This story is sweet in its message of chasing dreams and finding ways to help others.