|  Hoot
by Carl Hiaasen
Roy Eberhardt is the new kid--again. This time around
it's Trace Middle School in humid Coconut Grove, Florida.
But it's still the same old routine: table by himself
at lunch, no real friends, and thick-headed bullies like
Dana Matherson pushing him around. But if it wasn't for
Dana Matherson mashing his face against the school bus
window that one day, he might never have seen the tow-headed
running boy. And if he had never seen the running boy,
he might never have met tall, tough, bully-beating Beatrice.
And if he had never met Beatrice, he might never have
discovered the burrowing owls living in the lot on the
corner of East Oriole Avenue. And if he had never discovered
the owls, he probably would have missed out on the adventure
of a lifetime. Apparently, bullies do serve a greater
purpose in the scope of the universe. Because if it wasn't
for Dana Matherson...
In his first novel for a younger audience, Carl Hiaasen
(Basket Case, etc.) plunges readers right into the middle
of an ecological mystery, made up of endangered miniature
owls, the Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House scheduled
to be built over their burrows, and the owls' unlikely
allies--three middle school kids determined to beat the
screwed-up adult system. Hiaasen's tongue is firmly in
cheek as he successfully cuts his slapstick sense of humor
down to kid-size. Sure to be a hoot, er, hit with middle
school mystery fans. (Ages 10 to 15)
-Jennifer Hubert, Amazon.com |
