Hoot (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Roy would not have noticed the strange boy if it weren't for Dana Matherson, because Roy ordinarily didn't look out the window of the school..." (more)
Key Phrases: owl burrow, pancake people, earthmoving machines, Officer Delinko, Mother Paula, Mullet Fingers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Roy Eberhardt is the new kid--again. This time around it's Trace Middle School in humid Coconut Grove, Florida. But it's still the same old routine: table by himself at lunch, no real friends, and thick-headed bullies like Dana Matherson pushing him around. But if it wasn't for Dana Matherson mashing his face against the school bus window that one day, he might never have seen the tow-headed running boy. And if he had never seen the running boy, he might never have met tall, tough, bully-beating Beatrice. And if he had never met Beatrice, he might never have discovered the burrowing owls living in the lot on the corner of East Oriole Avenue. And if he had never discovered the owls, he probably would have missed out on the adventure of a lifetime. Apparently, bullies do serve a greater purpose in the scope of the universe. Because if it wasn't for Dana Matherson...

In his first novel for a younger audience, Carl Hiaasen (Basket Case, etc.) plunges readers right into the middle of an ecological mystery, made up of endangered miniature owls, the Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House scheduled to be built over their burrows, and the owls' unlikely allies--three middle school kids determined to beat the screwed-up adult system. Hiaasen's tongue is firmly in cheek as he successfully cuts his slapstick sense of humor down to kid-size. Sure to be a hoot, er, hit with middle school mystery fans. (Ages 10 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

With a Florida setting and proenvironment, antidevelopment message, Hiaasen (Sick Puppy) returns to familiar turf for his first novel for young readers. Characteristically quirky characters and comic twists will surely gain the author new fans, though their attention may wander during his narrative's intermittently protracted focus on several adults, among them a policeman and the manager of a construction site for a new franchise of a pancake restaurant chain. Both men are on a quest to discover who is sabotaging the site at night, including such pranks as uprooting survey stakes, spray-painting the police cruiser's windows while the officer sleeps within and filling the portable potties with alligators. The story's most intriguing character is the boy behind the mischief, a runaway on a mission to protect the miniature owls that live in burrows underneath the site. Roy, who has recently moved to Florida from Montana, befriends the homeless boy (nicknamed Mullet Fingers) and takes up his cause, as does the runaway's stepsister. Though readers will have few doubts about the success of the kids' campaign, several suspenseful scenes build to the denouement involving the sitcom-like unraveling of a muckity-muck at the pancake house. These, along with dollops of humor, help make the novel quite a hoot indeed. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (December 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440419395
• ISBN-13: 978-0440419396
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (497 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #135,719 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hoot's a hoot!!, November 2, 2002

By	John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hoot (Hardcover)

I love Hiaasen's novels about Florida and all of the zany characters he creates to tell his pro-ecology stories. When I saw he had written another one I reflexivly one clicked to have it sent to me. When I got it I thought it was a tad smaller in size than the usual novel one buys in hardcover and the print seemed to be a little large, but no matter as I dove into the saga of Roy Eberhardt.

I was perhaps a couple of chapters into the book when I noticed on the fly leaf that it was a Children's Book of the Month Club selection. Really? Well, I was enjoying and as I continued to read through it I continued to be drawn along with the story of the new boy from Montana being introduced to both the beauty of Florida and it's not so beautiful experiences with developers.

In this story the guys in black work for a Pancake House conglomerate called, Mother Paula's All American Pancake House. They intend to open their 469th family style restaurant on a piece of property in Coconut Grove. The fences are up. The construction trailer is on the site. The bulldozers have arrived. All appears to be ready for construction to begin. Then things start to happen. First all the survey markers are pulled up and all the stake holes are filled in.The air is let out of the construction vehiles tires. Alligators (small ones) are put in the out house toilets. No work is being done. The date for a grand opening is approaching. Who is doing this and why are no mystery to the reader, but they are a serious question to the construction foreman, Curly, police officer Delinko and Curly's boss at headquarters, Chuck Muckle. Of course, Mother Paula's is about to be constructed on land on which there a bunch of burrowing owls. Mother Paula's people know it. No one else does until a very unusual "hero" sets in motion a wonderful string of events which leads to a predictable but very humorous conclusion.

It may have been written for children, but what the heck - we are all kids at heart.

62 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Owls, sparkling snakes, barefoot boys and lots of mousetraps, October 24, 2002

By	E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hoot (Hardcover)

Carl Hiaasen forges into new territory: The kid book realm. Cleaned up and devoid of ... violence or much profanity, he makes a cute, quirky book that isn't limited to just kids. If anything, Mr. Hiaasen's literary gifts are more pronounced when there are no seedy elements to distract the readers.

Roy Eberhardt recently moved from beautiful Montana to the swampy mishmash of Miami, and he's not thrilled about the change. He misses his old home, and the biggest, meanest bully of all, Dana Matherson, has taken a dislike to him. But on the bus, Roy catches a glimpse of a barefoot kid racing down the sidewalk. When he sees the boy a second time, he punches out Dana and pursues the kid (called Mullet Fingers, for a reason that will become evident late in the book).

A mystery vandal is sabotaging the site of a future pancake restaurant, pulling up stakes, sprat-painting a cop car, and setting loose a bunch of glittery cottonmouths. Things don't improve when Roy encounters the boy's sister, Beatrice, a very tall jock with muscles and teeth of steel. Beatrice warns Roy to stay away from Mullet Fingers, but Roy is already quite involved. Mullet Fingers is on a one-boy campaign to save the tiny burrowing owls that live in the construction site -- and will be buried alive in their burrows when the construction begins. Roy begins walking the line between law and outlaw, right and wrong, trying to save Mullet Fingers and the tiny owls.

Roy is the kind of kid that readers love instantly -- he's a quiet Charlie Brown who comes out of his shell for a good cause. (And he moons Dana) Mullet Fingers is a little harder to pin down, a strangely but that seems to be Hiaasen's intent. Beatrice is half-hilarious, half menacing -- the scene where she bites off part of Roy's bike tire is a scream. Dana is a pain in the backside, and readers will laugh and rejoice at his comeuppance. And Hiaasen outdoes himself with Roy's parents. He doesn't make them stupid, condescending or obtuse, but rather they trust in the big corporations a bit too much. And one of the most touching elements of this book is that Roy asks his parents for their advice, and protects his kindly mother from the knowledge of how Mullet Fingers' own mother despises him.

Unlike many other adult authors who write a book for kids, Hiaasen doesn't dumb it down. He seems to have faith that his kiddie readers can handle tales of corporate double-dealing, enviromental mandayes, and paperwork that most people never have to think about. Kooky elements like a B-movie actress, an ambitious if well-meaning cop (the one whose car was painted), a baby alligator in a porta-john and a bunch of sparkling cottonmouths with taped mouths add an element of surreality to the book.

"Hoot" is a hoot, but it's also a charmingly serious novel. Kids will like Roy and the effective but realistic tactics he uses for the owls, and adults will like the thought-provoking storyline and quirky humor. A keeper.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a hoot!!!, September 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Hoot (Hardcover)

I loved this book! What a fun read! This is a book which will appeal to all ages. As a fifth grade teacher I can't wait to read it to my kids. I know that many of them will identify with the main character. This definitely ranks as one of my all-time favorites right after Harry Potter and Holes. I anxiously await Mr. Hiaasen's next children's book.