Hoot
by Carl Hiaasen
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Book Reviews of Hoot
Book Review: Arrogant Protagonist
Summary: 3 Stars
Roy is pretty new to his Florida town. His father is in the government law enforcement agency and he and his family move around a lot. He isn't surprised when a bully on his bus, Dana, chooses to harass him. But Dana's harassment is a blessing in disguise--while Dana is shoving his head against the window of the bus, he sees a boy who looks to be about his age running barefoot through the yards near the school bus. Roy becomes determined in two ways: he is not going to let Dana bully him forever and he is going to figure out what is going on with the barefoot boy.
Both of these goals are more difficult than Roy originally thought. Even though he punches Dana, he still isn't left alone. And once he starts getting close to finding out who the barefoot boy is, an intimidating older girl named Beatrice starts beating up on him almost as much as Dana. What is going on?
Soon Roy becomes even more interested in the barefoot boy, especially when it becomes obvious he can't reason with Dana. But the boy is remaining very secretive. Roy begins to suspect the barefoot boy might have something to do with the ongoing vandalism that is stopping the pancake house chain from breaking ground in a nearby vacant lot.
I liked the friendship that sprung up between Roy and Beatrice, and I liked the relationship between Beatrice and the barefoot boy. I liked what happened at the end of the book to the barefoot boy, and I really liked the fact that this story of the vacant lot was told both from the point of view of Roy and from the point of view of the police officer protecting the lot.
I thought Roy's character was incredibly arrogant about everything, though, which made him a much less appealing and sympathetic character.
Book Review: Carlos says... "this book is hilarious just like the book FLUSH"
Summary: 4 Stars
The story is divided into three main parts. This gives the reader different points of view from each character. The main part is about Roy Eberhardt and his friends "Mullet Fingers", and his stepsister Beatrice. The main part focuses on their efforts to try and save the owls' homes from getting bulldozed to make way for a construction. The second is about Officer David Delinko, who is one of the Officers investigating the sabotage acts on the construction site. He was caught sleeping during his early morning patrol once and was nearly fired. Now, with his job on the line he basically thought about nothing else but getting his job done. But when he sees the Burrowing Owls and slowly thinks about what will happen to them, he slowly has a change of heart towards the end of the book. The third part is of the construction Foreman Leroy "Curly" Branitt who also has his job on the line now that the construction was two weeks late. Despite his efforts to guard the construction site, the site is continually sabotaged and gets fired in the end. In the last part he doesn't join Roy and the rest of the crowd to protect the owls, but refuses to take any orders from his boss.
Overall I'd say this is a great book with its unpredictable and hilarious characters. Aside from being funny you could learn something too. I noticed that Hiaasen writes mostly about environmental problems. This book illustrates how animals are affected when we destroy their home for the sake of money. Nobody likes seeing their home destroyed. How would we feel if someone showed up on our homes and told us that our house was going to get bulldozed? In the words of Calvin and Hobbes: "How would humans feel if animals bulldozed a suburb and put in new TREES?"
Book Review: Create Your Own Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Austin M. review of Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, March 20, 2008. WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD! Roy Eberhardt is an adolescent boy who has moved from place to place with his father's job in the government. He now resides in the quiet town of Coconut Cove, Florida. In this town Roy is the new kid who has only a few friends. One day while riding the bus to school, Roy sees a boy running down the road in an old, tattered basketball jersey, dirty shorts, and bare feet. Roy is fascinated by the boy, and the next time he sees the boy he pursues him. While jumping off of the bus to catch the boy, he runs into Beatrice Leed. The boy turns out to be Beatrice's stepbrother. The main problem in the story is a species of burrowing owl that makes their nest on a construction site for the restaurant, Mother Paula's Pancakes. Beatrice's stepbrother has always cared about animals, and he wants to save the owls living on the lot. He pulls multiple pranks, and crimes to try to delay the construction. Later in the story, Beatrice's brother pulls in Roy and Beatrice to help out with the cause. Eventually Roy spreads publicity throughout the school and town, and when the televised groundbreaking ceremony for the restaurant came, there was a large protest against the construction. The school kids, along with adults, and the Mother Paula icon herself fight the company by not letting construction begin. In addition, a little detective work by Roy made the company forfeit the lot. Roy found out that the lot did not have any of the proper paperwork, and that the owls were a protected species, so the company gave up. The trio of Roy, Beatrice, Napoleon Bridger (Beatrice's stepbrother) had won the battle.Book Review: chase for what you believe in with hoot
Summary: 4 Stars
Have you ever felt you needed to help something or someone?
Well the book I read was Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. This book has that question answered, as the main character Roy has been on quite an adventure with his new friend Napoleon has had quite a school year trying to save the owls, him and his mysterious friend will do anything for those owls.
This book is about the new kid Roy who just moved to Florida who isn't the most popular kid. On the way to school Roy spots a kid running from the school bus. Roy was curious to whom this kid was. He soon finds out that he will be on the biggest adventure of his life, trying to save owls from being crushed by a construction sight of a popular pancake house.
I would rate this book 4 star because some parts of the book where kind of predictable and I like books that are like that I like books that you don't know what will happen next. This book is a 4 star to me because it was a really good story and I loved how it was in Florida and it had great description.
This book takes place in Florida, Florida is an awesome setting and it was really fun to read this book because it was full of adventure in south Florida and there were a lot of water sports and surprising things.
I would recommend this book to everyone that loves surprising and adventurous stories, the reason that I would recommend this book to everyone is because it's a fun book and no matter how only you are you can have fun with this book.
-SSC
Book Review: Excellent Read-aloud book...
Summary: 5 Stars
While the book has a great "hook" from the very first page - the mystery of the running boy, who is first seen by Roy as his (Roy's) face is smushed against a school bus window by a bully - I was a bit surprised by how much my children (9, 11) LOVE this book. Hiaasen's book is chock-full of vivid descriptions of both the setting and the characters - and there are multiple well-developed characters. My kids usually prefer action(although they did love the quiet tale of the Penderwicks) to character analysis, but they were riveted by this tale and begged me to read multiple chapters a day instead of the usual one. And I've enjoyed it thoroughly myself.
I'd say Hoot has increased the children's environmental awareness; given them an appreciation of Florida as something other than a state where beaches, hurricanes, and Disney can be found; encouraged them to really think about that fine line between right and wrong; increased their curiosity about the motivations of adults and the complicated balancing acts they engage in; raised the issue of dysfunctional families in a fairly sensitive way; and given us the opportunity to discuss many literary devices. And it is quite funny too, sometimes a bit slapstick but the descriptions are wonderful and the kids completely eat it up.
Highly recommended.