Hoot (novel)

Last updated
Hoot
Hoot.png
Cover of Hoot
Author Carl Hiaasen
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreRealistic Fiction
Published 2002 Alfred A. Knopf
Media typePrint
Pages292
ISBN 0-330-41529-8
OCLC 53393228

Hoot is a 2002 children's mystery/suspense novel by Carl Hiaasen. The story takes place in Florida, where new arrival Roy makes two oddball friends and a bad enemy. Roy joins an effort to stop construction of a pancake house which would destroy a colony of burrowing owls who live on the site. The book won a Newbery Honor award in 2003. [1]

Contents

Plot

The main character, Roy Eberhardt, moves from Montana to Florida and into the fictional town of Coconut Cove, where a 7th grader, Dana Matherson, starts to bully him. On the bus to school, Roy sees a boy running barefoot outside. Roy tries to leave the bus, but Dana viciously chokes and strangles him. He escapes after punching Dana in the face, breaking his nose, and then exiting the bus. However, Roy can't catch the running boy because a golf ball hits Roy in the head. Vice-Principal Viola Hennepin suspends Roy from the bus for two weeks and orders him to write an apology to Dana. Roy calls for a truce, but Dana declines this.

A restaurant called Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House decides to build a franchise in Coconut Cove, but vandalism delays the work. Roy learns the running boy is the vandal known as "Mullet Fingers" and they become friends. Mullet Fingers vandalizes and delays construction overseen by Chuck Muckle to save the endangered burrowing owls on the site.

The construction foreman, Leroy "Curly" Branitt, denies the owls' existence. Roy helps Mullet Fingers prove otherwise and tells his class including Beatrice Leep about the owls, and how construction will kill the endangered species, and encourages them to join him in protests.

Roy and his classmates attend the groundbreaking and expose the truth. This includes the company's illegal removal of an environmental impact statement from their files. This revelation saves the owls and their habitat. Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House blames former employees and promises to preserve the property as an owl sanctuary. Muckle is sent to anger management for attacking a reporter. Dana is later arrested and sentenced to a detention camp. Mullet Fingers's mother sees him protesting with Roy and his classmates and goes in front of all the cameras and attempts to hog all the attention.

Two days later, Mullet Fingers climbs out his home's bathroom window and is mistaken for a burglar. Mullet Fingers's mother lies to the police and says he stole a very valuable toe ring. They believe her and he's sent to a juvenile detention center where he escapes. In the last chapter, Roy discovers that Mullet Fingers's real name is Napoleon Bridger Leep.

Characters

Publication history

Carl Hiaasen started writing children's books when he realized that the other novels that he had written were too adult for his nieces and nephews. In writing his first young adult novel, Hiaasen faced some challenges: "The biggest challenge was trying not to subconsciously 'write down' for young readers." Hiaasen said, "When I was creating the character in Hoot, I'm sure I stole liberally from my pre-adolescence." [6]

Themes

The themes in the novel are friendship, teamwork, growing up, corruption, parental love, kinship, environmentalism and integrity. The character goes through different adventures to get here. [7]

Critical reception

The Horn Book Magazine reviews read, “Hoot is quintessential Hiaasen … peopled with original and wacky characters… Not consistently a hoot, but worthy of a holler. Hiaasen's first YA book succeeds as a humorous diversion.” Publishers Weekly claims that "With a Florida setting and pro-environment, anti-development message, Hiaasen returns to familiar turf for his first novel for young readers… Several suspenseful scenes, along with dollops of humor, help make this quite a hoot indeed." [8]

Adaptations

A film adaptation of the book was released in May 2006, starring Luke Wilson as Officer Delinko, Logan Lerman as Roy Eberhart, Brie Larson as Beatrice Leep, Tim Blake Nelson as Leroy Brannit, Neil Flynn as Mr. Eberhart, Robert Wagner as Mayor Grandy, Cody Linley as Napoleon Leep, and Clark Gregg as Chuck Muckle while Hiaasen portrays Muckle's assistant Felix. [9] Hiaasen and Wil Shriner, the director and script-writer, "fought long and hard to stay truthful to the book." [10]

Notes

  1. "2003 Newbery Medal and Honor Books". Association for Library Service to Children. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  2. Hiaasen, p. 39
  3. Hiaasen, p. 14
  4. Hiaasen, p. 4
  5. Hiaasen, p. 253
  6. Hiaasen, Carl. "Frequently Asked Questions". Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  7. "Study Guide:HOOT by Carl Hiaasen". TheBestNotes.com. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  8. Riverside Public Library, Reviews
  9. "Hoot (2006) – Movie Details – Yahoo! Movies". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  10. Hiaasen, Carl. "Frequently Asked Questions: Movies". Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.

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