Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Passes the time, but nothing else Review: Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen, is a good book to read if you just feel like reading. However, if you feel like an intriguing plot and something that you will be unable to put down, you are looking at the wrong book.I regret to say this, but Hoot is just an average book with the un-original story of an American boy, Roy, who moves around and who is unsettled in his school life. He is faced with problems with finding friendship and the school bully, but then Roy discovers a boy on the run, and befriends the boy's sister who is in Roy's class. Roy then gets dragged into trying to save families of owls from their home, which is being renovated to building a chain restaurant. I don't think I have to tell you the outcome of the owls and the restaurant. To warn you now, Hoot is very predictable. If the isn't enough, sometimes you just don't feel like you're part of the story at all. The descriptions are not good enough to be able to see what the surroundings or people are like. If you have nothing to do, read this book. But if you have anything else to do, do that. The blandness and un-originality of Hoot is apparent even in the first chapter. Perhaps this can be excused for this being Carl Hiaasen's first childrens novel, and hopefully he will use more creativity and excitement in his next.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Whoot is for adults too! Review: I read Whoot because my mom loves Carl Hiassen. When she found out that he wrote a children's book, she rushed to the phone to call the book store to save the book for me. Now she wants to read it! Whoot is about a boy named Roy who one day sees a strange running boy who has no backpack or shoes. Roy thinks he's a criminal, but he is really a boy who ran away from his house who is trying to save the burowing owls. The owls' homes will be buried by construction for a pancake house. Will the owls be buried, or will their homes survive?
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Richie's Pick's: HOOT Review: My eyes are a little bit moist after having just finished HOOT by Carl Hiaasen. As I write this, I'm perched upon the royal blue carpeting between two of the dividers that stretch the length of a football field and herd us slowly in the direction of Jean Auel. Jean is sitting on a stool behind a table just beyond the goal line. I arrived here at the Javits Convention Center around 6:15 this morning--that's 3:15 A.M. California time, my body reminds me--in order to obtain one of the relatively limited tickets that allow entrance to this line for the purpose of receiving a smile and a signed copy of the new book from Ms. Auel. David Halberstam's line will be my next stop. But at the moment I am feeling like my best literary score of the day is the additional advance copy of HOOT that my friends at Random House are graciously permitting me to take back to California. Now, I can lend out a copy (first to my faithful webmaster) and keep another to eventually put away in my collection of the really good ones. Yes, HOOT is one that you'll want for your collection, too. I was just about to say that I can't wait to get home and start reading HOOT to my kids and Shari, but that wouldn't be particularly true. Thanks to another publisher friend, I am going to see Dee Dee Ramone and the Tom Tom Club perform at a party tonight, so frankly I CAN wait a little while to get back to California. But when I DO get there, you can be sure that I'm immediately sitting everyone down to share this great tale. First, you have the owls: "Walking back toward the patrol car, the policeman stumbled and fell down. Curley grabbed him under one arm and hoisted him to his feet. 'Stupid owls,' said Curley. The policeman brushed the dirt and grass burrs off his uniform. 'You say owls?' Curley gestured at a hole in the ground. It was as big around as one of Mother Paula's famous buttermilk flapjacks. A mound of loose white sand was visible at the entrance. 'That's what you tripped over,' Curley informed Officer Delinko. 'An owl lives down there?' The policeman bent down and studied the hole. 'How big are they?' ''Bout as tall as a beer can.' 'No kidding?' said Officer Delinko. 'But I ain't never seen one, officially speakin.'" Then, you've got the bully: "The grip on his throat tightened. He felt Dana's ashtray breath on his right ear: 'How come you ain't got your boots on today? Who ever heard of a cowgirl wearing Air Jordans?' 'They're Rebocks,' Roy squeaked." Now, throw in the mystery kid (whose first appearances are reminiscent of Maniac Magee): "The boy was straw-blond and wiry, and his skin was nut-brown from the sun. The expression on his face was intent and serious. He wore a faded Miami Heat basketball jersey and dirty khaki shorts, and here was the odd part: no shoes. The soles of his bare feet looked as black as barbecue coals...Because the boy kept running--past the corner, past the line of students waiting to get on the bus; past the bus itself. Roy wanted to shout, 'Hey look at that guy!' but his mouth wasn't working so well. Dana Matherson still had him from behind, pushing his face against the window." Add in the seriously evil PR guy from the pancake house chain, the tough girl soccer star, the assortment of parents with widely varying skill levels, and the bumbling young cop. Then drop Roy, the new kid in town, into the middle of everything and you have the recipe for a book that will enchant kids of all ages. There is humor, sadness, and a touch of suspense. What WILL happen to the owls in those holes? In HOOT, Carl Hiaasen does an incredible job of showing the different styles of activism that different people resort to. He presents the reader with the contemporary clash of free enterprise versus global ecological issues. He has a lot to say between the lines about parenting, and he has some great insights into the methods of dealing with bullies. I've never read his adult books, but I sure hope Hiaasen writes more children's books for my kids. HOOT is a heck of a first step into the world of children's literature. Richie Partington http://richiespicks.com BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: feel the same way sometimes Review: This was a fun book to read but I didn't like some of the language. I feel the same way as him sometimes. Besides reading this book also read the real book "The Junior High Survival Manual" from amazon.com so you won't have so many problems in middle school.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A Hoot For Adults Too! Review: I am a big fan of Carl Hiaasen's columns and his off-the-wall novels, which focus on life in my old stomping grounds of South Florida. In interviews he has given, Mr. Hiaasen has said that he wanted to write a book that his kids could read as his adult works can be extremely crude and disturbing (although they are hilarious). With "Hoot", I think he has made a very good first effort in the kids genre. The story line of Roy, the kid who has had to move all over the country on account of his faher's job hit pretty close to home to me as I was in the same situation growing up. Hiaasen perfectly captures the frustrations of being picked on and unaccepted as a child. His encounters with Dana, the bully are great as Roy always has a way to win out. Roy becomes curious about a boy he sees running barefoot and after a while he learns about the boy, know as Mullet Fingers. This character comes off as a kid version of Hiaasen's infamous Skink from his novels Stormy Weather, Native Tongue and Sick Puppy. Mullet Fingers is a junior environmental terrorist who tries to sabotage a construction site which contains burrowing owls, which will be wiped out when the bulldozers roll. Roy learns all he can about the owls and the two, along with Mullet Fingers' stepsister, devise an interesting plan to stop the construction. This is a great book for the early teenager, but I think his adult fans might get a kick out of it. There's no weed-wacker prostetics in this one or people who juggle skulls, but a fairly straight-forward story that has a message.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Great Read Aloud Review: I really enjoyed the characters in Hoot. The barefooted runner's anonymity grabbed my curiosity right off. Roy did the right thing by investigating the Environmental Impact Statement to support his protest. A great many lessons can be learned by this book.
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Carl needs to stick to the grown-ups Review: I love Hiaasen's fiction. I was excited to know he was coming out with a book aimed at a younger audience so I could share him with my 12 year old, Sam not being quite ready for the likes of "Tourist Season". He and I read it together. Half way through he was begging me to put it down and start another book. I kept telling him we needed to keep going since I knew there would be a hilarious ending. Well, there wasn't. The book was boring, and the attempts at the Hiaasen humor didn't translate to this level of readership. The characters were not nearly as colorful as in his adult books. Bottom line-it just wasn't funny.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Hoot is a hoot! Review: As a third grade teacher I am always looking for books that not only entertain but teach a lesson. HOOT does both! My students enjoyed the story and learned about burrowing owls at the same time. They also saw the negativity of being a bully. Two lessons for the price of one. A downside for children in the eight-nine year old range was the use of a few inappropriate words. I look forward to reading this book again next year.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: What a hoot!!! Review: I loved this book! What a fun read! This is a book which will appeal to all ages. As a fifth grade teacher I can't wait to read it to my kids. I know that many of them will identify with the main character. This definitely ranks as one of my all-time favorites right after Harry Potter and Holes. I anxiously await Mr. Hiaasen's next children's book.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Hoot Review: With rich detail and the perspective of an eleven-year-old boy, Carl Hiaasen wrote an award winning novel, Hoot. In the story Roy Eberhardt moves to Coconut Cove, Florida from the rolling mountains of Montana. Making new friends is hard but Dana Matherson, school bully, takes all the blame for a wonderful relationship with a tough brother and sister. Going through fights and playing tricks doesn't stop this adventurous threesome from defending something precious and small. Mother Paula's House of Pancakes is coming to Coconut Cove, and right on top of a field of burrowing owls! Competing against an angry grounds keeper and curious policeman, the three will do anything to save the owls. Hoot was an adventurous and funny read. I recommend this book to anyone with a great sense of humor. There are new surprises on every page! -Tator Tot
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