Hoot - The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings on Friday

     Several weeks ago I featured Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen on my Teaser Tuesday / First Paragraph post (here). It is definitely a book for adults. Today my excerpts are from HOOT by the same author, but this book is written for kids aged 10 to 15. It's a great story (Hiaasen's first children's book, written in 2002) and is fun reading for both kids and adults. As with all of Hiaasen's books, there's an environmental slant along with plenty of humor. In this story, the concern is for burrowing owls being displaced by construction of a pancake house.
     The sticker on the cover says: "Newberry Honor Book."  

Here's the Book Beginning:
     Roy would not have noticed the strange boy if it weren't for Dana Matherson, because Roy ordinarily didn't look out the window of the school bus. He preferred to read comics and mystery books on the morning ride to Trace Middle.
     But on this day, a Monday (Roy would never forget), Dana Matherson grabbed Roy's head from behind and pressed his thumbs into Roy's temple, as if he were squeezing a soccer ball. The older kids were supposed to stay in the back of the bus, but Dana had snuck up behind Roy's seat and ambushed him. When Roy tried to wriggle free, Dana mushed his face against the window.

The Friday 56 (from Page 156 in my trade paperback):
     "How would you and Mom like it," Roy pressed on, "if a bunch of strangers showed up one day with bulldozers to flatten this house? And all they had to say was 'Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Eberhardt, it's no big deal. Just pack up and move to another place.' How would you feel about that?"

Genre: Children's Book -- Environment/Humor/Mystery
Length: 292 Pages
Amazon Link: Hoot
Author's Website: Carl Hiaasen

Synopsis (from Amazon):
     Unfortunately, Roy’s first acquaintance in Florida is Dana Matherson, a well-known bully. Then again, if Dana hadn’t been sinking his thumbs into Roy’s temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is intriguing: he was running away from the school bus, carried no books, and–here’s the odd part–wore no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy’s trail. The chase introduces him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails.
     Roy has most definitely arrived in Carl Hiaasen’s Florida.

                 

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