A searchable database of books recommended by the CCBC.
(More information on CCBC book recommendations)
Hoot
CCBC Review:
The construction site for a new Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House appears to be just another vacant lot, but a renegade adolescent known as Mullet Fingers recognizes that the area harbors underground dens for burrowing owls, which will be destroyed by development. He single-handedly attempts to sabotage the site by pulling up survey stakes, putting alligators in the port-a-potties, and letting loose a posse of cottonmouth snakes (albeit with their mouths taped shut) to delay work. He's joined in his crusade by a recent newcomer to Florida, a lonely teenager named Roy, and Mullet Finger's no-nonsense, soccer-playing sister, Beatrice. Together they conspire to protect the owls, both by creatively disrupting construction and by raising awareness of Mother Paula's under-handed attempt to bypass a required Environmental Impact Study. Although Mullet Finger's acts of vandalism are illegal, his intentions are undeniably sterling, and readers cannot help but cheer him on. The kids are clever, the dialogue is witty, and almost all of the adults (with the notable exception of Chuck Muckle, Mother Paula's sleazy company V.P.) turn out to have at least one redeeming quality. Chuck Muckle and a few minor local officials are unmasked as money-grubbing villains, and the owls are saved, in satisfying conclusion to this humorous and inspired look at envioronmental activism. ©2002 Cooperative Children's Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 10-13
Age Range:
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
Activism and Resistance
Environmental Challenges
Greed
Humor
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf
Publish Year: 2002
ISBN: 0375821813
CCBC Location: Fiction, Hiaasen