Hoot
by Carl Hiaasen
★ Top 25 book of 2002 · #17 on Best Books of 2002
Roy's life changes when a barefoot boy sprints past his bus. Joining Beatrice and the mysterious boy, he sets out to protect a group of owls from the menace of a pancake restaurant.
Best for: Young readers who enjoy animal-saving adventures with quirky friends
Hoot is #17 on BookWard's Best Books of 2002, out of 32 2002 books that cleared our data bar.
What Hoot is about
Roy Eberhardt has just moved from Montana to the Florida town of Coconut Cove, and he is not off to a good start. A seventh grader named Dana Matherson picks on him and calls him 'Cowgirl'. Then, from the school bus window, Roy spots a barefoot boy running, and his curiosity takes over. The boy turns out to be the vandal known as 'Mullet Fingers', who is sabotaging a construction site where a pancake house franchise plans to build. The land is home to endangered burrowing owls, and the people running the project would rather pretend the birds are not there.
Roy befriends the runaway and rounds up classmates, including Beatrice Leep, to help protest. Funny, quirky and lighthearted, Hoot is a mystery about friendship, courage and standing up to bullies of every size, from the school bus to the boardroom. It suits young readers who like a cause with their comedy. It won a Newbery Honor in 2003.
Hoot on the Best Books of 2002
Hoot came out in 2002. Of the 32 books first published in 2002 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #17 on our Best Books of 2002 list.
Why it made the list: 206 readers have shelved it on Open Library. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2002 list
- Without Fail Lee Child, #15
- Prey Michael Crichton, #16
- The Contaxis Baby Lynne Graham, #18
- The Heiress Bride Lynne Graham, #19
See all Best Books of 2002 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2001 Best Books of 2003.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 166 want to read it, 14 are reading it now and 26 have read it, according to Open Library.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 47 | 55% |
| Reader love | 3 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 75 | 20% |
Questions about Hoot
When was Hoot published?
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen was first published in 2002.
Was Hoot one of the best books of 2002?
Hoot is #17 on BookWard's Best Books of 2002, out of 32 2002 books that cleared our data bar. 206 readers have shelved it on Open Library.
Why is Hoot on the Best Books of 2002 list?
206 readers have shelved it on Open Library.
More of the best books of 2002
- Romancing Mister Bridgerton Julia Quinn, #1
- Coraline Neil Gaiman, #2
- Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson, #3
- Why Does He Do That? Lundy Bancroft, #4
- Everything's Eventual. 14 Dark Tales Stephen King, #5
- Stories of Your Life and Others Ted Chiang, #6
See the full Best Books of 2002, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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