This little gem is translated from the German and it shows. The language is off and on kind of Shakespearean--dramatic and sort of formal and sometimes rhyming. There are illustrations here and there and Freddy speaks in a different wacky font when he gets really excited.

I picked this up because a little kid asked for it at the library the other day in such a haughty way (you'd have thought he was asking for War and Peace or something). I had to see what the young and erudite are reading for fun and I think The Golden Hamster Saga is it.