Scat

Mysteries aren’t only for adults and Carl Hiaasen seems to have the uncanny ability to write great eco thrillers for children as well. His newest, Scat, finds amateur student sleuths Nick and Marta trying to track down their unpopular biology teacher, Mrs. Bunny Starch, when she disappears during a field trip to Black Vine Swamp. A cast of whacky characters including an outlaw environmentalist, Twilly Spree, and a pencil chomping bully named Smoke, help Nick and Marta uncover the truth and save an endangered panther.

Not restricted to kids this is tight story, packed with Hiaasen’s humor and over the top personalities. Escape being an adult for a while and join Nick and Marta as they skip school, get kidnapped, break into a house, show more fall out of tree and land in the type of trouble only Hiaasen could imagine. show less

During a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp in Florida the most hated teacher at the Truman School disappears into the cypress trees and does not return. Nick and Marta along with the rest of their classmates are at first relieved but relief turns to concern when the teacher, Bunny Starch, is said to have taken a leave of absence to attend to an emergency family matter. It is widely known that Ms. Starch has no family and it has been rumored for years that she just might be a witch. When a classmate, Duane Scrod Jr. (aka "Smoke") is blamed for a small fire at the Black Vine Swamp, Nick and Marta decide to investigate to help clear Duane's name but they stumble upon an illegal oil pipeline, an endangered panther kitten separated from its show more mother, and an array of quirky characters on both sides of the law.

This was another good eco-friendly story by Hiaasen that has a touching backstory about Nick's father, a national guardsman stationed in Iraq, who sustains a devastating injury while on patrol and is sent to Walter Reed Hospital to recover. Nick's reaction to his father's new situation is interesting and sweet. I found some of the swamp heroics a bit far-fetched but it was a good story nonetheless. show less

Carl Hiaasen is up to his usual tricks in this young-adult book, [Scat]. We have the usual dastardly big corporation threatening to destroy nature, the endearing main character, a cast of oddball characters and let's not forget the reclusive, marginalized-from-society, eco-hero. Not to mention the decidedly warped Hiaasen sense of humor. It's a mix I just can't get enough of! In [Scat], we follow Nick and his friend Marta on a classroom field trip to the Everglades, which is cut short by a fire. Then their teacher Mrs. Starch vanishes. Does Duane (aka Smoke), the local juvenile delinquent who was thoroughly humiliated by Mrs. Starch in class the day before, have anything to do with it? What was that weird sound the kids heard in the show more Glades? Who is writing letters signed by Mrs. Starch? Great plot, great characters. A page-turner. show less

Audio book read by Ed Asner

This is the third of Hiaasen’s books for middle-school-age children. Like his other works he has a significant ecological / environmental message. The plot gets moving when biology teacher, Mrs Bunny Starch, goes missing on a class field trip to the Black Vine Swamp. Despite the fact that most of the kids are relieved that their feared teacher is out of school, Nick Waters and Marta Gonzalez are worried about her. They don’t believe she’s taken a leave of absence to deal with a family emergency. Working on their own, with the help of a juvenile delinquent and a mysterious woodsman with deep pockets, they decide to find Mrs Starch and ensure her safety. Of course, this wouldn’t be a Hiaasen novel show more without inept corporate baddies, a singing substitute teacher, an endangered Florida panther, a rich grandmother, and an eccentric recluse living with a Macaw that speaks three languages. There’s also a subplot dealing with Nick’s father, who has gone to Iraq with his National Guard unit.

Ed Asner does a great job reading this book. I love his voices for Twilly, Mrs Starch and Nadine (the macaw). show less

Narrated by Ed Asner. Carl Hiassen's environmental mysteries for kids always involve earnest, heroic kids and bumbling, inept adults. This is no different as Nick, Marta and Smoke attempt to help reunite a baby panther with its mother in the Everglades, while a greedy oil developer secretly tries to illegally profit from oil on state-owned land. Very funny yet the important message still gets through. Listening to Ed Asner read is like having your Grandpa or favorite uncle reading aloud to you. He does great work with the voices and brings alive the various personalities, even those just making brief appearances in the story.

Set in the Everglades of Florida, young Nick is dealing with some grown up problems: His father has lost an arm to the war in Iraq, his teacher disappears into the Black Vine Swamp, and he is thrust into a quest of guilt and innocence as his classmate is framed for arson. The story moves quickly, jumping between points of view which allows each new character to feel reasonably fleshed out. The book touches on many themes, ranging from the purpose of the war in Iraq, to parental abandonment, to conservation of the Everglades and the endangered Florida panther. At the heart of the book is a story of mystery and adventure which teaches Nick to trust his gut and fight for what he believes in.

When their unpopular biology teacher, Mrs. Starch, 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.

What a fun, exciting adventure for young adults and us older people too.