[Storyline Online intro] Welcome to Storyline Online brought to you by the
SAG-AFTRA Foundation I’m Melanie Lynskey and today I’m going to read Memoirs of a Hamster Written by Devin Scillian
and illustrated by Tim Bowers Night One My life is perfect. I have a bowl full of seeds, a cozy pile
of wood shavings, and room to run. I’m never leaving here. Question: Who’s the luckiest
hamster in the world? Answer: ME! Night Two I was just telling myself,
“Seymour, you’ve got it made,” when my exerci
se
wheel was delivered. (I like to work out.) It’s the best model around,
the FuzzyBoy 360, shiny as a new dime
and fast as lightning. I don’t know how many miles I put in, but I was on that wheel all night! Night Three It took me a while to get the hang
of my new water bottle, but it’s great. It’s important, too.
A hamster has to stay hydrated. Back to my wheel; I’ve got another
hour to put in before daylight! Night Four Little Girl came by and
gave me a kiss on the nose. Nasty. Hello? Ever hea
r of germs? But she also gave me two yogurt drops. Question: What’s better than a yogurt drop? Answer: TWO yogurt drops! I ate one and tucked the other
in my cheek to save for later. This hamster has it going on. Night Five I was just climbing onto my wheel
tonight when Pearl the Cat came by. “You know,” she said, “you run for miles every night,
but you never leave that cage. What’s it all for?” “I don’t know,” I said.
“It’s what hamsters do.” “What a complete waste of time,”
she said. “Have f
un in your cage.
I’m going to the sunroom.” Sunroom? What’s a sunroom? Night Six Little Girl woke me up to
clean my cage today. She kissed me on the nose again. Barf! She needs to knock that off. But while she was carrying me around, I realized there’s a lot of house
around me that I haven’t seen. It seems to go on forever! I tried as hard as I could,
but I couldn’t see a sunroom. Little Girl gave me a yogurt drop, and
I completely forgot about the sunroom. Whatever a sunroom is,
is it better t
han a yogurt drop? Answer: NO! Night Seven I planned on running
a marathon tonight, but my FuzzyBoy 360
is a little squeaky. Pearl came over to the cage
looking a little annoyed. “You really need to get yourself
out of there,” she said. “But why?” I asked. “I’ve got my wheel, I’ve got my
seeds, I’ve got yogurt drops…” “You wouldn’t need a wheel out here,”
she said. “There’s plenty of room to run. The staircase is made
of sunflower seeds. And the sunroom is filled
with yogurt drops.” As she wa
s walking away
she turned around and said, “Watch out for Hoover.” Hoover? Who’s Hoover? Night Eight I didn’t sleep a wink all day. Little Girl came by and kissed
me on the nose—YUCK! And then I had a terrible workout.
I just couldn’t focus. How could I concentrate
knowing what I know? Imagine...a whole staircase
made of sunflower seeds! And the sunroom? Don’t I
deserve to be in the sunroom? Buck the Dog came by to give my
cage a sniff, and I said, “Buck, do you like the sunroom?” Big, goofy B
uck said, “I love the sunroom.
It’s so… sunny.” And he trotted away. Night Nine No workout tonight. I spent the whole evening
putting together a plan. I went over every square inch of my cage,
and I think I’ve got it figured out. Operation Tasty Treat is set
for tomorrow night. Hello, staircase! Hello, sunroom! Night Ten Good ol’ Seymour is
one smart hamster! My escape went like clockwork. I moved the seed dish. Then I was able to muscle the
FuzzyBoy to the front of the cage. I had a little
trouble climbing
the outside of the wheel. It kept spinning and I
wasn’t getting anywhere. But sweet Pearl suggested I jam a sunflower seed
at the side of the wheel, and it worked! After that, it was easy. I shimmied up the wheel and
popped the lid right off. Question: Who’s going to eat every
yogurt drop in the sunroom? Answer: ME! Night Eleven Note to self: Cats are big, fat liars. I’m writing this from under the sofa. One wrong move and Pearl
will have me for dinner. For starters, the stai
rcase
is not made of sunflower seeds. It’s just carpet. It tastes like a sweater. And the sunroom is nice, but
there wasn’t a yogurt drop in sight. And when I heard Pearl
(the big, fat liar) say, “Hello, Seymour,” I knew something was wrong. She looked really hungry. But all of that time on
the wheel paid off. I raced past her and squeezed out
of the sunroom just in time. I made it here, but now what? Pearl keeps clawing under the sofa.
(That big, fat liar!) I’ll probably never see my cage aga
in. Question: Who’s in big trouble? Answer: ME! Night Twelve I’m doomed. I’ll never make it out of here alive. I can see Pearl pacing back and forth. She says she’s looking up recipes. I tore a tag off the bottom of the sofa,
found an old pencil, and wrote out my will. “I, Seymour Q. Hamster, being of
tired mind and hungry body, leave my FuzzyBoy 360 to my 17 brothers. I leave my water bottle to my 22 sisters. And to my sweet mother and father, I leave the four yogurt drops
hidden in the corner
of my cage. I won’t be needing them.” I sniffled a few times and fell asleep. “Goodbye, friends.
I love you all.” Night Thirteen So hungry and tired I could barely move, I heard Pearl purring the way
she does when she sleeps. It was my only chance. I tiptoed out from the back of the sofa
and headed straight for my cage. I was going to make it! But suddenly, there was a terrible noise.
It sounded like a hurricane. An enormous monster was
coming right at me. I looked up at its terrible eyes and
read the most frightening word: HOOVER! It was trying to suck me inside! Buck heard the commotion and
started barking like crazy. That woke up Pearl, the big, fat liar,
who hissed, “He’s mine!” and started racing right toward me. Hoover had me by the tail, Pearl was swiping at me with her claws, and Buck was howling like mad. I was a goner. I closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. And then came the sweetest
thing I’ve ever heard. “SEYMOUR!” It was suddenly very quiet. Hoover, Pearl, and B
uck
stopped in their tracks. And one surprised but happy
Little Girl got to me first. She kissed me on the nose,
a lovely, beautiful, sweet kiss. And I kissed her right back. Twice. Night Fourteen My life is perfect. I have a bowl full of seeds, a cozy pile of wood shavings, and room to run. I’m never leaving here. Question: Who’s the luckiest
hamster in the world? Answer: ME! What I really liked about this book is that it’s a story about appreciating
what you already have and feeling grateful f
or the life you have. You know, a lot of us are looking around
and thinking other people have it better or maybe there is somewhere more exciting and I just love that at the end
of the story the hamster realizes ‘you know, I have a very happy little cage and a wonderful wheel to run on
and somebody who loves me.’ He starts to appreciate the love
of the little girl which is really sweet. I also really just love a memoir in general because I think people’s stories
are fascinating and hamster stor
ies are
fascinating too, as it turns out. And I just love hearing stories
that are like a day in the life. And so this book was kind of perfect. Thank you for watching Storyline Online. Make sure to check out all of our stories. Keep watching and keep reading. [Storyline Online end credits]
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