1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hiaasen, Carl. 2002. HOOT. New York, New York. Random House, Inc. ISBN 0440421705
2. PLOT SUMMARY
HOOT is a novel about Roy Eberhardt, the new kid in school. On Roy’s first day of school, he's pinned the names "Tex" and the nickname sticks likes glue and so does the harassment in school. Because Roy Eberhardt is the new kid on the block, his life is never meant to be simple. Roy’s main goal in life is to not be noticed and to be left alone. Throughout this novel, Roy Eberhardt encounters many interesting characters in Florida. Roy’s first encounter is with the school’s bully, Dana Matherson. Next, he sees running through the neighborhood, Mullet Fingers, a boy Roy’s own age that lives in the woods. Mullet Fingers lives in the woods to protect the burrowing owls. Then, Roy meets Beatrice Leep, Mullet Fingers stepsister and Mullet Finger’s protector. The reader will discover that Beatrice is Roy’s protector too.
Mullet Fingers is on an environmental mission in HOOT. He is trying to save burrowing owls from being destroyed by the Mother Paula’s Pancake House, which is supposed to be building a new restaurant where the owls live.
Mullet Fingers employs numerous tactics to stop Mother’s Paula’s Pancake House from building where the endangered burrowing owls dwell. First, Mullet Fingers place alligators in the port-a-potties on the building site. Next, Mullet Fingers positions snakes all over the job site to scare off the builders. This is only a few strategies Mullet Fingers uses in HOOT to halt the building of the Mother Paula’s Pancake House.
Roy tries to employ a different measure to help Mullet Fingers and Beatrice to save the burrowing owls. Roy checks out the Mother Paula's Permits to make sure they are in order. Roy gives a speech to his classmates to get them on board to save the burrowing owls. He enlist their help at the Mother Paula’s Pancake groundbreaking ceremony.
These few young teen try to save the endangered burrowing owls during this action-packed novel. Throughout this book, reader will wonder if Mullet Fingers, Roy and Beatrice will succeed with helping the burrowing owls escape their eminent doom.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
In HOOT, the plot employs Roy Eberhardt, an intelligent, smart teen who has just moved to Florida from Montana. Roy misses the mountains and wilderness of Montana. As a young teen who has moved a lot, he's not surprised to be the victim of bully Dana Matherson. While being battered by Dana on the school bus, Roy sees a kid running along the sidewalk, a kid with no backpack and no shoes. Fascinated, he sets out to find him and gets involved with trying to save the endangered burrowing owls. In HOOT, the adults seem to be ignoring the burrows of tiny owls that will be buried by the bulldozing equipment. Roy's parents explain, "'Roy, they own the property. They can do pretty much whatever they please.' 'But-' 'They've probably got all the necessary paperwork and permits.' 'They got permits to bury owls?' Roy asked in disbelief. 'The owls will fly away. They'll find new dens somewhere else.' 'What if they've got babies? How will the baby birds fly away?' Roy shot back angrily. 'How, Dad?' 'I don't know,' his father admitted. 'How would you and Mom like it,' Roy pressed on, 'if a bunch of strangers showed up one day with a bulldozers to flatten this house? And all they had to say was 'Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Eberhardt, it's no big deal. Just pack up and move to another place.' How would you feel about that?' Roy's father stood up slowly, as if the weight of a hundred bricks were on his shoulders.'" Roy and his new friends are not about to take the destruction of the owls' burrows lightly.
This novel carries the reader along with a pleasing suspense and steady pace. The author provides neat encapsulations of each character's motivations. Roy Eberhardt is an interesting character, one who may very well encourage young readers to question authority when necessary and act to protect the environment. HOOT is an example of superb contemporary realistic fiction for young adults. The young people in the story are believable and real.The adults tend to be more one-sided and stereotypical. For example, Mullet Finger's mother is evil and only cares about herself and looking good for the cameras. For example, "She was all dressed up like she'd been invited to a party, and she wasn't the least bit shy about sticking her nose in front of the cameras. Roy overheard her tell a reporter how proud she was of her boy, risking his freedom to save the poor helpless owls. 'He's my brave little champion!' Lonna crowed obnoxiously.' With a phony squeal of affection, she charged toward the wall of humanity that encircled her son.'"
Another interesting adult character is the idiot deputy Delinko, who wants to be promoted to detective and tries to look good for his captain and Roy's parents. He states, "'Speaking of jobs, 'Officer Delinko said, ' you remember the other night when I brought Roy home with his flat tire?' 'Of course.' 'In all that nasty weather.' 'Yes, I remember,' said Mr. Eberhardt impatiently. 'Did he happen to mention anything about you writing up a letter for me?' 'What kind of a letter?' 'To our police chief,' Officer Delinko said. 'No biggie- just a note for the permanent file, saying you folks appreciated me helping out your boy. Something along those lines.' 'And this 'note' should be sent to the chief?' 'Or to the captain. Even my sergeant would be okay. Roy didn't ask you?' 'Not that I recall,' said Mr. Eberhardt. 'Well, you know how kids are. He probably forgot.' 'what's your sergeant's name? I'll see what I can do.' Roy's father made no effort to conceal his lack of enthusiasm. He was running out of tolerance for the pushy young cop. 'Thanks a million,' Officer Delinko said, pumping Mr. Eberhardt's hand. 'Every little bit helps when you're trying to get ahead. And something like this, coming from a federal agent such as yourself-'"
The plot of the story is very contemporary and true to life. It concerns young people who are trying to protect the environment and are willing to go against adults and even large corporations to accomplish their goals.
This is a very realistic book. The conversation is natural, believable, and appropriate to the situation.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
PUBLISHERS WEKLY: “
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.”
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Packed with quirky characters and improbable plot twists, Hiaasen's first novel for young readers is entertaining but ultimately not very memorable. Fans of the author's adult novels will find trademark elements-including environmental destruction, corrupt politicians, humorous situations, and a Florida setting-all viewed through the eyes of a middle-school student. Roy Eberhardt has just moved with his family to Coconut Cove. He immediately becomes the target of a particularly dense bully who tries to strangle him on the school bus. Roy seems more concerned, however, with discovering the identity of a running, barefoot boy he spots through the window of the bus. Meanwhile, plans to build a pancake house on a vacant lot are derailed when someone vandalizes the construction site. The two story lines come together when Roy discovers that the runaway boy is disrupting the construction to save a group of burrowing owls. Roy must help his new friend, nicknamed Mullet Fingers, as well as fend off the bully and adapt to life in Florida. The story is silly at times but rarely laugh-out-loud funny, and there are several highly unlikely scenes. Also, it wraps up a little too neatly-Roy's classmates join him to protest the construction project, his father finds the missing environmental impact report, and the owls are saved. While Roy is a sympathetic protagonist, few of the other characters are well developed. Students looking for humorous, offbeat characters and situations will probably prefer Louis Sachar's HOLES (Farrar, 1998) or books by Daniel Pinkwater.
”
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 middle-schooler 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.”
5. CONNECTIONS
*Other books for children in this genre:
DeFelice, Cynthia. LOSTMAN’S RIVER. ISBN 0380723964
Barron, T.A. TREE GIRL. ISBN 0441009948
Pfitsch, Patricia Curtis. RIDING THE FLUME. ISBN 0689866925
Hobbs, Valerie. STEFAN’S STORY. ISBN 0374372403
Sachar, Louis. HOLES. ISBN 0440419468
* Students are to research the Internet and read trade books about the species of burrowing owls. Students are to create a large, colorful poster about the burrowing owls. Students are to share with the class their
poster and facts they learned about burrowing owls.
* Students are to create a poster comparing and contrasting the family situations of the Eberhardts,
The Mathersons, and the Leeps. Students are to include
information on how the families interact and
act.
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