From: briggs at tweedledee.sr.unh.edu <briggs>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 16:16:40 -0500 (EST)

Re: Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen

Hiaasen's adult books are so cynical and sarcastic, I wondered if he could tone that down for children. I think he succeeded. The edge has been blunted. The hideous manager of Pancake House, the builder/engineer who is trying to get the new Pancake House built, the ever-hopeful but primarily feckless police officer, the bully and his family are all villains, but they are artfully drawn, and degrees of evil are clear I think. In his adult books the attitude would be,
"These people are idiots and if you don't agree with me you are too." In "Hoot" the attitude is closer to "You see that these are not good people, but consider the differences."

Mullet Fingers is extreme, but not so far out that he is is completely implausible.

Roy as our hero is also clearer than some adult Hiaasen heroes, although like them he is not all good. His distance from perfect makes him an easier person for kids to identify with. There are few kids who admire Mr. Always-Well?haved. Roy does a lot of things right, but not too much: he endures the bully's beatings, but he also reports the problems to parents/authorities; he tries to confront his tormentors, but is only partially successfully (until the end he triumphs *completely*); he lies to his parents about *some* of his activities, but he also recognizes there are boundaries beyond which he cannot go as well and tacit/spoken agreements which he must obey; he works on his own, but also with his parents.


The use of the Internet to save the day for the owls, and children taking a stand and making a difference help make the book work for kids, I think. I wouldn't want a steady diet of Hiaasen, but I liked this book and I do think that he has succeeded in the children's literature arena.


Barbara Briggs
Received on Thu 20 Feb 2003 03:16:40 PM CST