Hoot (urspr publ 2002; utgåvan 2004)

I avoided this one for a while because, having read a couple of Hiaasen's adult novels, I doubted his ability to bring his very unique world into an adolescent-appropriate mindset. I was wrong. Hiaasen here maintains his quirky understanding of Florida as a world apart (and I say that as a resident), all the while tackling issues that I will engage my middle-schooler. Looks like I'm going to be picking up his other YA stuff. (#37--a book with a one-word title)

A funny and fast-paced tale of bullies and owls in south Florida. Roy Eberhardt is the new kid in town, and bullied by obnoxious Dana Matheson. One day Roy spies a shoeless kid from the school bus, and decides to follow him. This boy is a runaway from a truly awful Mom, but he is more than a runaway. "Mullet Fingers" is intent on saving burrowing owls from being bulldozed by a developer, and Roy gets caught up in his plans. This book has so many good things: understanding and helpful parents, environmental awareness, humor, unusual friendships, courage against dumb bullies, children coping with bad parents in amazing ways. Lots of twists and turns as this story races to a satisfying conclusion. Fifth grade and up will root for Roy, Mullet Fingers and his sister Beatrice, the soccer star. ( )

I read it 50 times over. Loved it! ( )

Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot. 2002. Knopf, 2020.
I admire any writer who can write a book for children that will not make adults gag. Carl Hiaasen has that knack. Hoot is full of pro-social messages, such as saving endangered owls, appreciating the fragile Florida ecology, modeling positive and negative parenting, and allowing children to be believable agents. All these good messages, and yet the book is never preachy and never talks down to its child audience. In some ways, Hiaasen is an unlikely guy for this kind of writing. After all, he cut his teeth as a crime reporter and a writer of hardboiled comic thrillers like Striptease and Tourist Season. The character types he uses in his adult fiction are all here. There is the sleazy corporate villain, a couple of loner protagonists with McGyver-like ability to improvise their way in and out of trouble, bumbling authority figures, and even a barefoot boy who seems to be a Skink in the making. Parents and children will find laugh-out-loud moments, though not necessarily the same ones. ( )

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