Hoot

By: Carl Hiaasen

Narrated by: Chad Lowe

Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

ALA Notable Children's Book, 2003

Arizona Young Readers Award, 2005

Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, 2005

Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award, 2005

Iowa Teen Book Award, 2005

Kentucky Bluegrass Master List, 2004

Maine Student Book Master List, 2003

Massachusetts Children's Book Award, 2004

Minnesota Maud Heart Lovelace Award, 2005

Newbery Honor Book, 2003

Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Award, 2003

Texas Lone Star Reading List, 2003

This Newbery Honor winner and #1 New York Times bestseller is a beloved modern classic. Hoot features a new kid and his new bully, alligators, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes.

Everybody loves Mother Paula's pancakes. Everybody, that is, except the colony of cute but endangered owls that live on the building site of the new restaurant. Can the awkward new kid and his feral friend prank the pancake people out of town? Or is the owls' fate cemented in pancake batter?

Welcome to Carl Hiaasen's Florida—where the creatures are wild and the people are wilder!

©2002 Carl Hiaasen (P)2002 Random House, Inc., Listening Library, An Imprint of Random House Audio Publishing Group

Critic reviews

“It seems unlikely that the master of noir-tinged, surrealistic black humor would write a novel for young readers. And yet, there has always been something delightfully juvenile about Hiaasen’s imagination; beneath the bent cynicism lurks a distinctly 12-year-old cackle. In this thoroughly engaging tale of how middle schooler Roy Eberhardt, new kid in Coconut Cove, learns to love South Florida, Hiaasen lets his inner kid run rampant, both the subversive side that loves to see grown-ups make fools of themselves and the righteously indignant side, appalled at the mess being made of our planet. The story is full of offbeat humor, buffoonish yet charming supporting characters, and genuinely touching scenes of children enjoying the wildness of nature. He deserves a warm welcome into children’s publishing.”—Booklist

“A wonderful tour-de-force.”—The Boston Globe

“A rollicking, righteous story.”—The Miami Herald

Bittersweet, funny, fast-paced

While this could be enjoyed by young teens, I appreciated this book particularly as an adult. Apparently, junior high school hasn't changed, so the characters and plight of the young protagonist rang true. The plot is as quirky as I've come to expect from a Carl Hiaasen book, with all the bemused sense of absurdity that colors all his work. I listened to it in my car, and looked forward every night to getting back to the story during the next morning's drive to work(NOT a common situation!). Chad Lowe does an excellent job of reading -- speaking from the kid's point of view without condescension, particularly.

"Hoot"

I got the book for my son. I got hooked on it myself and finish it in a couple days. It was great! It was a little old for my 5 yr old. But he did enjoy all the kid stuff addressed in the book.

Cute family book

Great for kids age 9-13. Not too terrible for the parents either. :)
Entertaining, easy to listen to, kinda fun.

a great story for young people

I listened to this with my three kids driving from one end of California to the other. When we would stop, they wanted to keep the story going, rather than go inside and visit Grandma. I had previously listened to the story on my own, and knew that there was nothing that young people could not hear and enjoy. I also liked the voice of the narrator.

Not his best, but enjoyable. Very kid-friendly.

I am a big fan of Carl Hiaasen books, particularly when delivered in audio form, but this one was just okay. I don't know if he intended the book to be kid-friendly when writing it, but the topic, writing style's complexity and humor were very 'young adult'. As he usually has a darker undertone to his humor and will write on rated R topics with humor, I was a bit surprised by how tame this one really was.

I would recommend reading Carl Hiaasen and would recommend this as a kid-friendly audiobook for the whole family to enjoy, but would not recommend it as one of Carl's typical dark comedies.

Typical Hiaasen

I love Carl Hiaasen. As usual, set in Florida, with twists and turns every few minutes. The characters are both good and bad, but there's always a suprise.

AWESOME

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This is a kids book afterall

The arch comic genius of postmodern tropical paradise (ie south florida) is much kinder and gentler than usual - and so a bit less enjoyable. But I didn't read carefully and realize that this is Hiaasen's book for young folks - Oh?? Let your kids read it - it is fun.

Hiaasen's first first YA novel a limited success

Carl Hiaasen's first shot at young adult fiction cntains the same offbeat to the point of parody situations and characters. I like the fact that the parents of the protaganist Roy were portrayed in a positive light if somewhat thinly drawn. They contrasted nicely with with the general media portryal of parents particularly of fathers. As always Hiaasen is the voice in the wilderness crying out for the wilderness. When at his best Hiaasen's characters are unique and likeable. Too often though they slip periously close to one or two dimensional of episodic TV. Still he is always a good listen. Well worth the time.

Decent Book that Became a Movie

In between John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books, I am also reading Carl Hiassen's. Seems like I'm on a Florida kick. In any case, Hiassen's books are quirky and interesting reads. Definitely worthwhile. And they elevate Florida beyond the strip mall existence that is all to evident when you visit there.