Capybara Madness: Celeste and the Giant Hamster by Melanie Typaldos
(Why, yes, it is the Rodent of Unusual Size that inspired Typaldos' book...)
Sometimes you discover hidden treasures purely by accident. That's certainly the case when it comes to Melanie Typaldos' Celeste and the Giant Hamster, and it demonstrates just why the Internet can so often be a wonderful tool.
Follow this chain of events, if you will...
(1) A friend mentions as a joke that she wants a capybara for her birthday.
(2) This reignites my own interest in capybaras, the world's largest rodent, which leads to having a dream about capybaras.
(3) In the comments thread of the capybara dream-post, a capybara named Caplin Rous actually responds to me about my dream.
(4) I visit Caplin Rous's website and discover possibly the world's most famous capybara.
(5) I interview Caplin's owner, Melanie Typaldos for my blog, and the blogosphere explodes with love for giant rodents, with over forty thousand people reading the interview and BoingBoing linking to it under the title "Life with a 100 lb rodent that sounds like a Geiger counter when it's happy."
(6) Melanie helps my wife and me surprise our friend with a most excellent birthday photo (scroll down).
(7) Meanwhile, Melanie has sent me her children's book for ages nine through twelve, entitled Celeste and the Giant Hamster...
Now, just because someone owns a giant rodent doesn't necessarily mean they can write an engaging children's story that involves said giant rodent. In fact, given that the book is not out from a commercial publisher or large indie, I have to say I was not sure what to expect. You never know, and you never know when you have to make nice hrumphing noises about how "interesting" the book is while you vow never ever to mention it anywhere.
But the truth is, Celeste and the Giant Hamster is a wonderful book--a true hidden treasure that anyone should consider as a gift for children. The writing is strong and clever, the storyline making the reader want to find out what happens while also being fairly complex.
What's it about? As the back cover reads, "Celeste the Cat is tormented by her human’s insistence on keeping a dwarf hamster, appallingly named Celestina, as a pet. Enlisting the aid of two friends, the brave but intellectually challenged Tiger and overly-enthusiastic Ruby, she sets out to trap a giant hamster that is loose and living in a nearby field. She plans on placing the giant hamster in front of Celestina’s cage to show her owner what she thinks of pet rodents. The giant hamster--actually a capybara--proves to be a larger, stronger and more intelligent adversary than the cats expect, resulting in a series of humorous mishaps that leave the trio battered but not dispirited. Slowly the cats come to realize that the capybara is not the frightening monster they imagined. When the capybara has a litter of eight precocious capy-kittens, Celeste, Ruby and Tiger find themselves doing things they never imagined, like going for a swim and protecting baby rodents from a tough gang of tom cats."
What's particularly good here is how Typaldos uses the baby capybara as the foil to the scheming cats. And as their reaction to the capybara changes, so too does our perception of them as characters. Kids will also get a kick out of the photos of Caplin Rous on the back cover and accompanying the author bio. I'd not be at all surprised if a major publisher picked up this book for reprint. It's a very strong and unusual selection. Not to mention, if Caplin Rous isn't headed for superstar status, I don't know who is!
Meanwhile, I'm not sure the chain of events describe above has ended. After all, Caplin Rous has a birthday party coming up, capybaras are still infiltrating my dreams, and the cat Celeste may have more adventures in store...
Mary Lee Stropes on July 01, 2009 at 10:41 AM
What a delightful review. I know the book is great and now there is an interesting look from the other side. We love our capys and really appreciate the great review.Makes you want to read the bok again.
Mary Lee
Darrell Bryant on July 02, 2009 at 09:07 AM
Melanie is a wide-ranging talent. She is a consistently good writer and storyteller. I completely enjoyed her Celeste the Cat novel. And I know she has other well written novels in her trunk: an adventure story about a quest by an unlikely band across the endless sea, commissioned by the queen of a society of octopus on that alien world; she also has a future-world story tucked away, about a girl born of a race of vampires who are being tracked across the universe and eliminated by the ruling government. Melanie is a brilliant and emerging talent. Some lucky editor will pick her up soon. She has that rare ability, a writer who writes children's stories that adults will enjoy reading.