Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Book:  Hoot 


Author:  Carl Hiaasen 


Grade:  A


Recommended to: adults, kids, environmentalists, people who like to laugh. 


This is probably the 10th Carl Hiaasen book that I've read.  It is a young adult/chapter book and it is a Newberry Honor Book, which brought back memories of reading chapter books in elementary school.  Apparently it was also made into a movie in 2006.

This book is about a new-in-town middle schooler who sees a barefoot boy, name: Mullet Fingers,  running away from the bus stop.  He follows the boy and a whole bunch of hilarity ensues when Roy, the new kid, finds out that the new Mother Paula's pancake restaurant is going to be built on a site with endangered burrowing owls.

I really enjoyed this book - to the point of laughing out loud on the Metra.  The main character Roy is extremely well written and very thoughtful and sensitive for a middle schooler.  The other main characters are a little one dimensional, but the book has an overall theme of environmentalism that is beautiful and refreshing.  It is also chock full of humor - if you've read other Hiaasen novels, you know that he often introduces a lot of characters and then puts them in completely ridiculous situations.  This book is written the same way and it is very well done.

Mullet Fingers is a younger Skink (the ex-Florida governor who wears a shower cap and lives in the wilderness) who fights against environmental abuses with outrageous acts of civil disobedience.  For example, he releases cotton mouth moccasins onto the Mother Paula's property, but not before gluing sequins all over their tails.   It is this attention to detail that drives Hiaasen's work above and beyond other works of comedic fiction.

I recommend this book to kids and adults alike.  It has a fabulous message and it is great for two days of laughs.

Happy Readings!