Hoot by Carl Hiassen

What happens when you are being choked by a bully on the school bus and you notice something strange outside? Like another kid, running without his shoes?

Roy Eberhardt, fresh from Montana, has the nickname of “cowgirl” in his Coconut Cove, Florida middle school. He is frequently picked on by Dana Matherson. It was during one those bullying sessions that he notices a young kid running without shoes. This gets him curious and he goes on to investigate.

Thus begins the story of “Hoot” by Carl Hiassen, his first foray into young adult literature. This is a story of environmental activism and resistance, friendship and this being a Hiassen story, Florida corruption. Just the sort of “feel good” story you want to hand over to your average young adult reader. No this is definitely not feel good and sentimental but it is funny, heart warming and good guys do win at the end. Did I just give away the ending?

Nevertheless, you should be intrigued by the story. In trying to locate the kid without the shoes, Roy forms a bond with Beatrice, a girl from his school. As the bully Dana tries to kill Roy in a school closet, Beatrice helps to save him and then ties Dana to the school flagpole. Roy finds out that the runner kid is a boy called Mullet Fingers who is Beatrice's stepbrother. He had been sent away to live among relatives but he ran away and came back to Florida. Beatrice helps him to stay out sight. After initial suspicion, Roy gains both of their trust since he and Mullet both share a love of nature and the three form a friendship.

Now Mother Paula's All American Pancake corporation wants to build one of their pancake houses in Coconut Cove. However, all their construction attempts seem to grind to a halt due to frequent and targeted sabotage. These bizarre acts of vandalism (one of them involving gators in the portable toilets) create anxiety among corporate levels as the groundbreaking ceremony seems to be near. As is the case in Florida, corporate anxiety translates into local authority anxiety as they vow to find the perpetrators and make this corner of Florida safe again for property development.

Roy finds out that Mullet is behind the sabotage- hence his running without shoes early in the morning. At first a little apprehensive, he quickly discovers that Mullet is actually trying to do something good. The construction site is a refuge for burrowing owls, an endangered species. There was a whole family of owls there at the moment- parent owls and quite a few baby owls. Mullet would do anything to stop the construction from happening and Roy decides to help him.

Roy quickly discovers that the people in the construction sites knew about the owls but would like to cover it up anyway. n fact Mother Paula Corp had already known about the owls but had helped bury the environmental survey report. Local authorities, never above being bribed, are happy to look the other way. Environmental causes are bad for business, after all.

By using a digital camera, Mullet takes pictures of the owls for Roy which he later uses in school as a current events project in his history class. Roy and Beatrice tells the class the story about the owls and how Mother Paula Pancake House would destroy them. They ask their class to join them in a protest march.

The construction groundbreaking ceremony was to be on a Wednesday but Roy and Beatrice lead their friends in the protest and surround the site. A baby owl jumps out in the daylight for everyone to see and the children are vindicated in front of the live press. The publicity surrounding the incident finishes the project and the owls are saved!

You may think that this is a book for kids, but it is not. This being Carl Hiassen, he is incapable of being patronizing to his readers, This is a book written for adults that children can also read- a classic definition of a good “children's book”. Mr. Hiassen proves that he can appeal to all ages with his sardonic and yet witty approach to storytelling.

No wonder Hoot got the 2003 Newbery Medal Award.