Hiaasen, C. (2002). Hoot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
2003 Newberry Honor Award Book
292 pages
Ages 9-12
Plot:
Roy Eberhardt sees a strange wild looking, shoeless kid running alongside the school bus one morning and does not know what to make of it. Soon he begins to follow the kid down into the woods alongside a golfcourse only to suddenly find himself strung up in a booby trap. He his cut down and marched out of the boy's lair bound and blindfolded, but not before catching a glimpse of a bucket of poisonous snakes and learning the boy's name is Mullet Fingers. Rather than being detered, Roy is only more intrigued. Simultaneously, a local pancake diner construction site is being vandalized repeatedly. When snakes turn up at the construction site as part of the latest prank, Roy begins to put two and two together and seeks out Mullet Fingers for answers. He learns from fellow classmate and Mullet Finger's half-sister, Beatrice, that his mother has basically kicked him out, and he is now left to fend for himself. He has made it his mission to save a family of small burrowing owls that live at the construction site. Roy wants to help him, but feels weary about breaking the law, so he begins to persue more legal channels with the help of his father. In an escalating battle between Pancake Diner owners and the vandals, the story culminates in a large protest of children, led by Roy, Beatrice and Mullet Fingers at the ground breaking celebration. In the end, Roy's father comes through with a claim that the company has disregarded the environmental impact report stating construction on the land would result in habitat loss for the owls, construction is suspended and the owls are saved.
My Impressions:
I enjoyed the mystery and suspense of this story as well as its being told from multiple viewpoints, much like a court case drama. These elements enhanced the story greatly. However, I found much of it to be a bit trivial and at times tedious. The characters were diverse, but a bit too flat. That being said, the message of standing up for what's right even when it is not the easy choice to make, is always a good message to pass on to readers. Also, as it is at this age in life that the world suddenly begins to take on more shades of gray, and lose its black and white rules, it is good to demonstrate how to make such tough choices as a young adult.
Reviews:
Betty Cater - Horn Book Magazine
Hoot is quintessential Hiaasen — a mystery/adventure set in South Florida, peopled with original and wacky characters — with a G rating. Roy Eberhart the new kid in town, hooks up with teenage runaway Mullet Fingers (so named because he can catch fish with his bare hands) and his sister Beatrice, a "major soccer jock … with a major attitude." The three discover that the proposed site for a Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House is also a nesting ground for small burrowing owls, a protected species, and they attempt to halt construction. Initiating a cover-up that reaches all the way to the mayor's office, Mother Paula's executives ignore the owls and try to speed up ground-breaking ceremonies before the public learns their secret. But Mullet Fingers sabotages their efforts: he removes survey stakes; puts alligators in the portable toilets; and releases a mess of cottonmouth shakes to scare away the guard dogs, The narrative carries a lot of frenzied commotion that only becomes more preposterous with each new character's entrance. There's Garrett, "king of phony farts" at middle school; Officer Delinko, not "the sharpest knife in the drawer"; and Kalo, the amiable rottweiler trainer ("That vun dere is Max. That vun, Klaus. That vun, Karl. And that big vun is Pookie Face"). Each individual has a story to tell, sometimes advancing the plot (Officer Delinko's ambitious investigation provides believable access to all characters) and sometimes imposing an earnestness at odds with the humor (Beatrice and Mullet Fingers endure a dismal home situation). Not consistently a hoot, but worthy of a holler. Hiaasen's first YA book succeeds as a humorous diversion.
Carter, B. (2002). Hoot. Horn Book Magazine, 78(6), 759-760.
Bill Ott - Booklist
It seems unlikely that the master of noir-tinged, surrealistic black humor would write a novel for young readers. And, yet, there has always been something delightfully juvenile about Hiaasen's imagination; beneath the bent cynicism lurks a distinctly 12-year-old cackle. In this thoroughly engaging tale of how middleschooler Roy Eberhardt, new kid in Coconut Cove, learns to love South Florida, Hiaasen lets his inner kid run rampant, both the subversive side that loves to see grown-ups make fools of themselves and the righteously indignant side, appalled at the mess being made of our planet. When Roy teams up with some classic children's lit outsiders to save the home of some tiny burrowing owls, the stage is set for a confrontation between right-thinking kids and slow-witted, wrongheaded civic boosters. But Hiaasen never lets the formula get in his way; the story is full of offbeat humor, buffoonish yet charming supporting characters, and genuinely touching scenes of children enjoying the wildness of nature. He deserves a warm welcome into children's publishing.
Ott, B. (2002). Hoot. The Booklist, 99(4), 272.
This book would be good as part of a discussion or debate starter. Perhaps a children's book club group could read this book and discuss what they would do, both in terms of moral and legal aspects. What were the alternatives to the action taken? What would they do in Roy or even Mullet Finger's position?
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