Hoot

Hoot

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Publisher: Random House (2002)

ISBN: 9780375829161

4 (out of 5) STARS

Summary: A Pancake House restaurant chain wants to build a restauran on a plot of ground populated by tiny owls. The main character Roy gets tied up in a scheme to stop the mega-corporation.

Review: Roy Eberhardt has recently moved to Florida from Montana. He is used to being the new kid but still does not much like it. Roy has found that every school has a bully: a bully that likes to pick on the new kids. Dana is the bully in Florida. Roy is a brave kid and knows that if he lets the bully get away with terrorizing him than he will have to hide and skulk the whole school year. So although Roy is probably fifty pounds lighter than Dana, he is not cowed by him and stands up to Dana and even eggs him on every chance he gets. But this is just a side plot.

The main plot involves a running boy without shoes and without a name. Roy sees this boy one day from the school bus window and is extremely curious. His curiosity leads him to make two new friends and to discover tiny owls that live on some acreage destined to be bulldozed to build a pancake house restaurant.

This book has a great assortment of unforgettable characters. This book was a great read from beginning to end. I had a hard time putting it down.