Scat (Hoot #3)

by Carl Hiaasen (Author)

Scat (Hoot #3)
Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade
Series: Hoot
When Mrs. Bunny Starch, the most feared biology teacher ever, vanishes, the school's headmaster and the police seem to accept an unsigned note explaining that her absence is due to a family emergency. However, Nick and Marta don't buy it, in this latest novel for young readers by the author of "Hoot."
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Publishers Weekly

Hiaasen reprises "Hoot" with a panther in the owl role, an oil company as the villain and a rich renegade named Twilly Spree as the outlaw environmentalist determined to save Florida from developers. The kid hero is Nick Waters, saintly son of a minor league pitching coach who joined the National Guard to augment a meager salary, wound up in Iraq and has come back badly injured. Nicks ample worries multiply after his science teacher disappears while on a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp. When Nick goes to the aid of a classmate suspected of involvement in the teachers disappearance, he stumbles onto dangerous facts about the swamp: an endangered Florida panther has taken up residence, and an oil company has begun an illegal drilling operation. Nick is way too good to be truehes more the son every parent dreams ofbut Hiaasens smooth writing, whacked-out humor and highly entertaining cast of oddball characters keep the plot clipping along. The achievement is in the underlying earnestnessformulaic or not, the story will move readers, and any kid who loved "Hoot" will like this. Ages 10up. "(Jan.)" Copyright 2008 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Starred Review
Gr 58Once again, Hiaasen has written an edge-of-the-seat eco-thriller. When their unpopular biology teacher goes missing in a suspicious fire during a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, Nick and Marta don't buy the headmaster's excuse for her absence and decide to do some investigating of their own. Eco-avengers; an endangered, hunted panther; illegal pipelines in the Everglades; and an underachieving student with the nickname "Smoke" all play a part in this gripping novel. From the first sentence, readers will be hooked. The teens' dangerous detective work, with help from some unlikely sources, and the ethics of environmental awareness are well balanced. The emotion and personal changes that Nick goes through due to his father's injury in Iraq are on their own a worthy study of the struggles that military families are facing today. This well-written and smoothly plotted story, with fully realized characters, will certainly appeal to mystery lovers."Dylan Thomarie, Johnstown High School, NY" Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Starred Review, School Library Journal, January 2009:
"This well-written and smoothly plotted story, with fully realized characters, will certainly appeal to mystery lovers."

Review, The New York Times Book Review, February 15, 2009:
"Not many authors are equally successful at writing books for adults and children, but Carl Hiaasen seems to have made an effortless transition ... The ingenious plotting makes SCAT more engrossing than either of its predecessors."
Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen has been writing about Florida since his father gave him a typewriter at age six. Then it was hunt-and-peck stories about neighborhood kickball and softball games. Now Hiaasen writes a column for the Miami Herald and is the author of many bestselling novels, including Sick Puppy and Nature Girl.

Hoot, Hiaasen's first novel for young readers, was the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Newbery Honor. Flush, his second book for kids, spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list. His latest offering for young readers is Scat, an eco-mystery set in the Florida Everglades.

You can read more about Hiaasen's work at www.carlhiaasen.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780375834868
Lexile Measure
810
Guided Reading Level
W
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication date
January 20, 2009
Series
Hoot
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV028000 - Juvenile Fiction | Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories
JUV029010 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | Environment
Library of Congress categories
Teachers
Florida
Missing persons
Wilderness areas
Wildlife conservation
Great Stone Face Book Award
Nominee 2009 - 2010
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
Nominee 2011 - 2011
Nutmeg Book Award
Nominee 2012 - 2012
Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize
Finalist 2010 - 2010
Iowa Teen Award
Nominee 2011 - 2011
South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award
Nominee 2010 - 2011
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award
Nominee 2011 - 2011
Georgia Children's Book Award
Nominee 2012 - 2012
North Carolina Children's Book Award
Nominee 2011 - 2011
William Allen White Childens Book Award
Nominee 2012 - 2012
Sunshine State Young Reader's Award
Nominee 2012 - 2012
Young Hoosier Book Award
Nominee 2012 - 2012
Young Reader's Choice Award
Nominee 2012 - 2012
Massachusetts Children's Book Award
Honor Book 2011 - 2012
Golden Archer Award
Nominee 2013 - 2013

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