Hoot

Hiaasen, C. (2002). Hoot. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Plot summary: Roy Eberhardt is the new kid at Trace Middle School, located in the town of Coconut Cove in Florida. On the bus ride to school one day, while getting his face smashed against the bus window by Dana Matherson the school bully, Roy sees a mysterious boy running on the street without shoes. He is instantly fascinated and vows to find out what the boy is running from or where he is running to. The next time he sees the running boy, Roy is about to jump off the bus to follow him when Dana grabs him and starts choking him. The only way he can get out of the hold is to punch Dana in the face, then he speeds past a tall girl with blond hair. He follows the boy but loses him. Dana is upset and tries to jump Roy at the end of school a few days later, but the tall girl named Beatrice helps Roy out and she brings him to the running boy's hideout. The running boy's name is kept secret by Beatrice, who is his stepsister, but she calls him Mullet Fingers. Mullet Fingers doesn't live at home because he keeps running away from the schools his mother sends him and she doesn't want anything to do with him, so his whereabouts are kept secret. Roy soon finds out what Mullet Fingers has been running to everyday, joining in his cause.

There have been interruptions to the construction site for the new Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House due to someone pulling stakes from the ground and filling in the holes, alligators being put in the Travelin' Johnnies, cottonmouth snakes chasing off the guard dogs and their trainer, and worst of all the painted windshield of a police cruiser. Detective Delinko got in serious trouble and embarrassment when he fell asleep while he was supposed to be keeping watch of the construction site and let the mischievous intruder make him look like a fool. Further construction was stalled when the site foreman, Curly, stayed overnight to watch over the site and caught Dana Matherson snooping around looking for cigarettes. He had been sent there by Roy as a ploy to distract the foreman. Dana says his name is Roy Eberhardt, but Officer Delinko knows better. While Dana was taken to the police station, Mullet Fingers stole the seats from the bulldozers so they couldn't be driven.

Roy, Beatrice and Mullet Fingers have taken on the construction site to save the small, burrowing owls that call it home. The Mother Paula's corporation doesn't care about the owls nor do they care if the owls die by being smothered when the bulldozers cover the holes they live in. When Roy hears that the groundbreaking ceremony is going to take place even after all their work to stop them, he decides to get the school involved by bringing it to their attention. The owls are protected by law and the Mother Paula's people are pretending they don't exist. At the ceremony a bunch of Roy's and Beatrice's classmates come to support the little owls, while Mullet Fingers stuffs himself into one of the holes in the ground, refusing to come out. News cameras catch the whole thing and construction is temporarily shut down. Roy's father finds out that Mother Paula's had hidden the Environmental Impact Report stating the knowledge of the owls on the property, so the whole project is squashed. The owls are saved and Roy finds out Mullet Fingers real name is Napolean Bridger.

Genre: Mystery

Suggested age range: 9 to 12

Subjects/themes: Environmental issues, School bullies, Family issues, Animal rights, Comical satire.

Awards:

• Newbery Honor Award
• ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Award
• Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award
• Maud Hart Lovelace Award

Reviews:

• Booklist (October 15, 2002)
• Publishers Weekly (June 24, 2002)
• School Library Journal (August 1, 2002)

Character list:

• Roy Eberhardt - New at Trace Middle School, kind of quiet and keeps to himself, misses his home in Montana, stuck with the nickname "cowgirl".
• Beatrice Leep - Tough, tall, plays soccer, keeps information on her stepbrother secret, doesn't get along with her stepmother.
• Mullet Fingers - Truant from school, will do anything to stop the little burrowing owls from enduring injustice, no matter what. Plans to sabotage the construction site, befriends Roy in the process.
• Leroy "Curly" Brannitt - Construction site foreman, takes the brunt of Mullet Fingers' schemes, knows the owls exist but denies it.
• Dana Matherson - School bully, terrorizes Roy, gets caught by Curly and is taken into police custody for trespassing and assault. Has a police record.
• Officer Delinko - Wants to overcome the embarrassment of having fallen asleep on the job and getting his windshield painted black, hopes to one day be a detective.
• Mr. and Mrs. Eberhardt - Roy's loving parents, know it is hard on Roy that they move so much due to Mr. Eberhardt's job; he works for the government.

High-interest annotation: Roy Eberhardt is new in town and one day while having his face smashed up against the school bus window he sees a mysterious boy running without shoes who apparently isn't going to school. He is instantly pulled in to a story involving tiny burrowing owls, alligators in toilets, poisonous snakes, and pancake house.