Why I Wrote Herbie the Hamster Searches for Friends When my children were young, we had several pets around the house. My oldest daughter, Leah, brought a hamster home from school, and the girls named him Herbie. Although Herbie lived in a hamster habitat, he managed to get out of the cage from time to time when someone forgot to close his cage door. As a father of four kids, I was always trying to teach them things I had learned during my life. I had witnessed how some people always believed they weren't good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough, etc., so part of the story I tell in Herbie the Hamster is that a person's happiness comes from feeling good about himself or herself. I have also seen kids being mean to someone, or making wrong choices in life, and going down the wrong road. The other part of the story is to say that you need to pick your friends carefully, or you might head down the wrong path, too!