text: Carl Hiaasen spins a tale of adventure and humor that should motivate young readers to protect wildlife and natural resources. Hoot is set in the seaside town of Coconut Cove. The plot revolves around Mother Paula's Pancake House, a fictitious restaurant chain in Florida about to build its 100th store on a parcel of land inhabited by families of burrowing owls. The developers know about the endangered owls and removed legal evidence of the owls from public records. Unwary citizens applaud Mother Paula's in Coconut Cove. 
  
  The lone crusader for the owls is a boy nicknamed Mullet Fingers who lives in the backwoods dodging truant officers. He pulls up construction stakes and invents other nocturnal forays to stop development. Mullet Fingers enlists the help of his step sister, Beatrice and new kid, Roy. Beatrice is a middle-school soccer queen who holds her own with the boys. Roy is a level-headed kid who moves to Coconut Cove from Montana, earning the dubious title of Cowgirl. 
  
  When you throw in a zany cop, a redneck construction boss, a sly businessman, a high school teacher willing to support kids acting for righteous causes and a bully whose attempts to squash Roy you've got a pretty good read!
  