Hoot

Hoot

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade adventure
• Originally Published: 2002
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 760L; grades 5-8
• Structure/Length: 21 chapters and epilogue; approx. 292 pages; approx. 6 hours, 25 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Roy Eberhardt, who has recently moved from Montana to Coconut Cove, Florida, looks out the school bus window and sees a boy running. He follows him a few days later and learns that the boy, Mullet, is working to prevent a vacant lot from being bulldozed to build a pancake restaurant because the lot is home to some burrowing owls. Roy is gradually drawn into Mullet’s crusade and his troubled family life.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Underage smoking; bullying

Carl Hiaasen, Author

• Bio: Born and raised in Florida, where he still lives; graduated from the University of Florida; worked as a reporter for the Miami Herald; writes novels for both children and adults; his books have been published in 34 languages
• Other Works: Tourist Season (1986); Flush (2005); Chomp (2012); Squirm (2018)
• Awards: Newbery Honor Book (2003); ALA Notable Children’s Book (2003)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Handling Problems Alone
• Adjusting to a New Place
• Standing Up to Callous Corporations

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and cultural contexts regarding conservation that incite Roy’s conflict.
• Analyze paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Handling Problems Alone, Adjusting to a New Place, and Standing Up to Callous Corporations.
• Plan and design visual media to protect local endangered species, drawing comparisons to Roy’s experience in the novel.
• Analyze and evaluate plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding Mullet’s personality, Beatrice, and other topics.