ISBN: 9780440419396
Roy, while his face was being mushed against the school bus window by the bus bully in his new school, notices a barefoot boy running passed the bus stop and out of view. Intrigued by this mysterious barefoot running boy, Roy sets off to find him and find out what he’s up to, and why he’s not in school. He meets the most interesting characters, and a series of exciting events follow as Roy pursues this mysterious boy.
All the while, the bullying continues, but Roy doesn’t take nonsense of Dana, the Bully – he has no intention of hiding and putting his life on hold because of intimidating kids – he has his own mysteries to solve. Getting hit against the head and slapped in the face all in the presence of a totally oblivious bus driver, and getting suspended off the bus for two weeks, don’t stop him from fighting back. Nobody wants to stand up or tell on Dana because they’re too scared of him, but Roy outwits him and ends him up in a juvenile detention centre “where he receives all the help he needs”.
In the meanwhile, a new site is being prepared for the erection of another branch of Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House. But the vacant lot/building site is terrorized and vandalized every night, while the project planners try their level best to keep the project on schedule.
Once Roy finds out what the sabotage is about – to save a few families of endangered burrowing owls, he joins the “campaign” against the development of the site where the Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House will be built. He does a lot of research and is able to involve his whole class, and his friends each involves the groups they’re connected with to protest against this development.
Will Roy and his friends – a few middle school kids – be able to rescue the owls and their habitat?
Hoot is a fun read for environmentally aware readers, a “humorous ecological mystery” with an underlying message of standing up for what is right, especially standing up for those who can’t speak for themselves. American author Carl Hiaasen writes in an easy language, and humour flows through the whole story, engaging the reader.
Recommended for readers ages 9-12.
Hoot (the book) won a Newbery Honor award in 2003, and was also made into a movie in 2006.
Teaching resources for Hoot can be downloaded from the Scholastic website.
