Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Roy Eberheart’s family had been moving around the country for as long as he could remember. When he finally found home in Montana, the Eberhearts had to move away again. This time they traveled to a small, uneventful town called Coconut Cove, Florida. At first, Roy did not enjoy his new surroundings, and he missed the rugged mountains of Montana. At his new school, another reason for disliking the new town existed. He got bullied on the bus, and almost everybody was reluctant to befriend him because of his unfamiliar demeanor. One day, while riding the bus to school, he spied a barefoot boy sprinting and leaping his way on the sidewalk and into people’s backyards. Roy became interested in the running boy. He wondered why he didn’t go to school and where he was running to. So, Roy kept an eye out for him, looking out the window each bus ride to see if he could spot him.     

On the bus one day Roy got into a fight. The infamous bully almost choked Roy to death, but Roy punched him in the nose in self-defense. During the fight, Roy spotted the running boy out of the corner of his eye. To spare never seeing the boy again, Roy hopped off of the bus and chased down the boy in hope of asking him some questions. The boy’s stamina was incredible and Roy never caught him.

Back at school the next day, a girl named Beatrice confronted Roy and told him to forget about the boy. Roy wanted to know what tough Beatrice’s relationship was with the running boy. While Roy was mulling this over in his head, another situation was occurring in a different part of town. A pancake company named Mother Paula’s was introducing a new restaurant to the Coconut Cove community. The construction foreman struggled to get the operation started because of the acts of vandalism that were committed in the construction zone. These acts included pulling out all of the survey sticks, putting alligators in the portable toilets, putting poisonous snakes on the property, and taking out the seats of the bulldozers. A policeman named Officer Delinko tried to target the vandal. They bumbled around and tried to solve the case while they were the ones being duped and tricked by the criminal.

Back at Roy’s school, Beatrice revealed that the boy was her stepbrother who ran away from home. His wicked mother sent him off to military camp, but he was unable to be tamed by civilization. Roy finally got hold of Beatrice’s stepbrother, and Roy learned that he was fearless and had a real connection with nature. The unruly boy would stop at almost nothing to keep wildlife safe from humans. He was particularly concerned about a certain group of owls. They were burrowing owls that lived underground in holes made by other animals. The owls were endangered by bulldozers at a construction site for a future Mother Paula’s. Once Roy learned of this, he wanted to help in every way he could, and so Beatrice, her stepbrother, and Roy teamed up to help save the owls. Beatrice’s stepbrother vandalized the construction site which slowed down the building process, but the pancake people were determined to continue the operation. So, at the official announcement that there was to be a new Mother Paula’s in the area, Roy and his friends protested and spoke about how it wasn’t right to destroy these poor defenseless birds. Roy had also learned that it was illegal to carry out the construction of the building unless there was a paper that said that it was environmentally okay to build there. They, in fact, did not have this permit. The project was shut down and the owls were safe all because three people agreed that sometimes humans have to consider animals before themselves.

            Hoot is an excellent tale of how people should care for the environment and the living things in it. This story is suitable for students for grade six to grade eight. Its easy-to-follow plot is well-done and magnificently written. Hoot is funny but substantial, and many people will enjoy it. The characters in the book are amusing to imagine. The story also involves how one adjusts to his/her surroundings through faith, family, and friends.

Reviewed by Fernando