tamarayork 's review for:

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

3.0

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I’m not impressed with Carl Hiaasen’s transition to middle grades books. I’ve read some of his adult books and like the environmental themes and general kookiness. But I don’t feel like he left enough of his adult writing style behind. This book had an excessive amount of bad language. Why include cussing in a children’s book?! I read it aloud and had to change a bunch of wording on the fly. I’m glad my kids didn’t read it on their own. There’s also a lot of lying, vandalism, skipping school, fist fights, and domestic violence. All of the adults, besides the main character’s parents, are pretty flawed people. The kids work to save owls at a building sight, but their methods aren’t very admirable. I want more from middle grades novels.