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

great

listened to this as a kid, and it's still good! holds up well! would recommend

Loved it!

The story and performance was great! I had to read this novel for my English class and this was a more enjoyable and effective way to read the book!

Listened with my nine-year-old

Wanted an excuse to listen to another book by Hiaasen but felt a little funny listening to a kid's book. So I downloaded a copy and listened along with my nine-year-old daughter who read a printed copy at the same time. Helped her with her reading fluency and comprehension and it gave me an excuse to listen. I haven't had as much fun since I re-read one of my old Hardy Boys books. It was a win-win. By the way, the book was standard Hiaasen fare. A great listen.

Good listen for a car ride with kids

This is a good title for adults and children confined in a car. I was introduced to this author by another title, Basketcase, which I completely enjoyed but wouldn't necessarily want my kids to listen to. The author keeps his same sense of humor in Hoot, but the main character is a middle-school-aged boy, and the premise is suitable for all ages.

Get back Harry Potter

Here is the quintessential normal kid hero doing his thing in a world full of weirdos. This is a great book for kids and a pretty good book for adults. The outcome is telegraphed as soon as you know who the characters are, and what they do, but it was a fun listen. In a way, it's a kids book, but just like Harry Potter, only adults who have lost sight of what it was to be a kid will not enjoy it too.

I loved the quality and story

the narrator was a great match to the story and made an enjoyable experience .

Cute and funny story

The story touches on real life things but adds a funny spin. We really enjoyed listening.

Light, enjoyable

We listened to this audiobook on a road trip to Malheur to look at owls and other birds. It was a light book with a good conscience, but wasn't too believable. Look forward to the movie, though!

The best book ever

I really enjoyed this book it is one of the best books I've ever read or listened to

Not all chapters are in Audio book

My son has the book from school and it has 15 Chapters. The Audiobook only has 8.