Hiaasen, Carl.
HOOT
New York : Knopf, 2002.
IL YA
ISBN 0375921818

(11 booktalks)

What do burrowing owls, a school bully, and a boy named "Mullet Fingers" have in common?  They are all part of the life in Coconut Grove, Florida.  Roy Eberhardt is the new kid in town.  Roy finds himself at the center of an environmental cause.  Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House wants to build a new restaurant right on top of the burrowing owls habitat.  Fortunately, the owls have Roy, "Mullet Fingers", and Beatrice Leep on their side.  "Mullet Fingers" shows his talent for keeping the construction site shut down with the alligators in the portable toilets and colorfully painted poisonous snakes.  An amusing cast of characters completes this often laugh out loud book.  Will the future be bright in South Florida for Roy and the tiny owls?  Read Hoot by Carl Hiassen.  (New Hampshire Great Stone Face Committee, 2003-2004)

Booktalk #2

New to town, Roy Eberhardt has got to make himself fit in. Getting his face smashed on the school bus by bully, Dana Matherson, actually changes his life, helping him see an adventure of a lifetime. Suddenly Roy is caught up in saving the world, or at least part of it. Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House wants to build a new restaurant right over the nesting burrows of endangered miniature owls. Can three middle school kids overcome the bureaucracy, the less than honest politicians, and other screwed up adults? Read this hilarious, adventure packed book to find out. It's a hoot!  (Jean B. Bellavance for Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2003-2004)

Booktalk #3

Roy is the new kid.  He's been the new kid before and he knows the drill.  The local bully preys on him on the school bus.  The kids at school don't socialize with him.  He will get through this.  But a new dimension has been added to the routine this time.  One day, as he is being harassed on the bus by Dana, Roy notices a strange kid running beside the bus.  The kid appears to be about Roy's age but he isn't wearing shoes.  Now, Florida may have a relaxed dress code compared to Montana, but Roy is pretty sure they require  shoes in school.  But, the kid isn't at school that day.  Or the next.  Sensing a mystery, Roy sets out to find the running boy and learn his secret. Could it have anything to do with the strange goings-on at the construction site nearby?  Alligators in the porta-potties?  Snakes in the yard?  And just what are those holes people keep stepping in.

Booktalk #4

Roy Eberhardt is the new kid in town.  Again.  But even though he's moved around a lot in his life, it’s still hard to be the new kid.  Having just moved to Coconut Cove, Florida, from Montana, Roy is still trying to adjust to his new life.  He sits alone at the lunch table, he hasn't made any new friends in school, and as if that's not bad enough, Dana Matherson, the school bully, decides to make Roy his newest victim.
                    On his way to school one day, with his face smashed up against the school bus window, and with Dana’s thumbs pressed into Roy’s temples, Roy notices a boy his own age running very fast away from school with no books in his hands and no shoes on his bare feet!  Roy is intrigued.  Where could this kid be going?  Where are his school books?  And most of all, why doesn't he have any shoes on?
                   Just down the street from Roy’s house, strange things have been happening at the construction site of the new Mother Paula’s Pancake House.  Someone has been sneaking into the construction site and pulling up the survey stakes, putting alligators in the porta-potties, and releasing cottonmouth snakes with strange sparkling tails.  Why would someone be doing these things?   Are they just practical jokes or is it something more serious? 
                   It’s all a big mystery until Roy Eberhardt meets the running boy named “Mullet Fingers” and his stepsister Beatrice Leep.  Soon they all stumble into the adventure of a lifetime that includes sneaky politicians, greedy company executives, and some little burrowing owls not much bigger than a can of Coke.
                   For an exciting adventure story sure to keep you on the edge of your seat, I recommend this book.  I assure you it is a Hoot! (Jennifer Underhill, jenniferunderhill@yahoo.com, Master's Student at Florida State University

Booktalk #5

Hoot is a really good book, its a whole mystery that focuses on environmental care and Florida, like most of Carl Hiaasen's books.  In Hoot a boy sees another boy he has never seen before, this new boy is just running down the street, away from the bus.  The running boy could have been running to school if he had a backpack and shoes.  I really like this book because it is funny and deals with environmental stuff also.  (loren shatz, lolonot27@hotmail.com)

Booktalk #6

Roy is the only child of a couple who is constantly moving. Roy thinks that this place will be just as bad as the others until he meets or sees Mullet Fingers. Mullet Fingers is a boy who has run away from boarding schools, military schools, basicly every school that his mom sent him to. Roy sees Mullet Fingers while trying to dodge the blows from Dana, a bully on his bus. Roy becomes curios and tries to chase after him, but is unsuccesful. At school Roy meets the girl that he accidently pushed while trying to get off the bus. Roy finds out that she is Mullet Fingers sister. Roy finaly gets to meet Mullet Fingers and finds out that he is trying to save a colony of Burrowing Owls from being killed by being built on top of. The three of them motivate others and protest proving that the owls are there. (Tayler Jae Smith, squigglebug@earthlink.net, HCMS Library)

Booktalk #7

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, is about Roy Eberhardt who dislike about his family been move a lot. Every time when he move into a new school he encounter a new set of bully. He, however, learn a lot from experience. In the new school he move to, he was bully by Dana on the first day of school. he did discover a boy without no shoes, no book bag, and also wearing a old shirt, while he is been bully by Dana. Later he found out that the boy was the step-brother of Beatrice Leep. He also discover the owl, which is protected by law, was in the construction area of the new pancake restaurant. The foreman, curly, did see the owls but he did not take action because of the fear of losing his job. The boy put several dangerous animals into the construction area to protect the owls , but he did not meant to harm anyone. The foreman, which try to protect himself from the animals, has do whatever he can to do so. The boy is also been harmed by the dogs rented by the foreman. Officer Delinko was also affected by the conflict. Roy protested and tried his best to protested. I think this is a very good book and interesting to read.  (Zhou Wang, fuzhouzhouwa@yahoo.com,  HCMS Library)

Booktalk #8

Hoot is about a boy who has just moved from Montana to Florida. His name is Roy B. and he was getting beat up by a boy named Diana Matherson. One day Diana was beating him and, his face was smushed against the window, and he saw this strange boy running. Roy wondered why he was running, and why he looked the way he did. He had a tore up basket ball jersey on, no shoes, and he was scruffy looking. So Roy would look out ht window every morning and every afternoon to see if he was running again. One day he was getting beat up by Diana again, and he saw the little boy running and then he was trying to get away from Diana. When he finally did he was took-off like a jet. Before the bus driver could say "hey kid, where are you going?" Roy was already a blur to him. Roy chased the little boy all over town. He said "I feel like a track star!", because he was jumping over bushes and he was dodgeing thisngs! and then you will never know what else happenes untill you read the book!!!  (Ashley Nicole Davis, Dixiegrl4u_311@yahoo.com, Hertford County Middle School, Murfreesboro USA)

Booktalk #9

                       Roy Eberhardt doesn't give a “hoot” about living in his new home state of Florida. His family moves often, so he’s used to being the new kids in school, but this time is different.  He misses his last home in Montana and isn’t interested in anything in Florida until he sees “the boy at the school bus stop”.  The boy that catches Roy’s attention is just a typical boy about his own age.  What's different about him is that he’s running away from the school bus instead of toward it.  Plus, the boy has no books, no backpack, and even no shoes.
                        Roy is intrigued by the mystery surrounding the boy, so he starts to follow him.  In his chase to find out about the secretive stranger, Roy encounters poisonous snakes with sparkles on their tails, alligators in toilets, a girl who bites a hole in his bicycle tire, burrowing owls, and trouble with the police.  Will Roy ever find out who the mysterious boys is and what he’s up to?  Does Roy ever learn to enjoy living in Florida?  Find out by reading Hoot by Carl Hiaasen.  (Carolyn Davis, DCDavis1@homexpressway.net, Sedgefield Intermediate Media Specialist, Berkeley County)

Booktalk #10
In the book "Hoot" three young children named Roy, Beatrice, and Mullet Fingers are trying to get Mother Paula's Pancake House to stop the construction of building their restaurant on that land because of the owls that live in the ground on that old lot.  The theme of this novel is that young children can make a difference. The three young children let snakes go in the guard dogs' pen, Paint the police car and other gallant adventures just to save the owls. They organized a bigger group and all together went on strike until the construction company saw the owls and decided not to build their restaurant.   I enjoyed this book because I loved how young kids put down their video games and stood together to save the wild life, no matter how big or how small. (Stormy S., Student)

Booktalk #11

A homesick Roy Eberhardt has just moved from Montana to Trace Middle School in Florida. While being hassled by the bully on the bus ride to school, Roy notices a barefoot boy running from the street to the woods. The boy never gets on the school bus nor does he go to school. Intrigued, Roy tries to find out who the barefoot running boy is.

In the meantime, Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House is being built on a vacant lot. This vacant lot is the home of a few wild owl families. The construction is constantly being held up by pranks: surveillance stakes are pulled up, crocodiles found in the port-o-potty and a police officer’s car windows are spray painted black when he falls asleep on duty. The construction schedule is being held up and the Mother Paula’s company is not too happy about it.

Hoot is a clever and funny story about standing up for yourself and for what you believe in.  (Melissa Bowman, Melissa.Bowman@pisd.edu, Armstrong Middle School,  Lone Star Book Award nominee, 2003-2004)