Scat: Eerily appropriate in light of the BP oil debacle in the Gulf

Title: Scat
Author: Carl Hiassen
Age Range: Ages 9-12
Genre:  Fiction, environmental focus

The author of Scat, Carl Hiaasen is a native of Florida and writes both adult and children's books which focus on his native state.  He both celebrates and criticizes all the glory of his state, and concentrates his criticism on environmental issues of his state.  He creates such fascinating villains, usually a money-hungry-not-so-bright businessman.

I'm reading this book with two of my students and the environmental issues that is discussed is oil drilling and the problems it causes.  There is even a mention in the book how Floridians don't want off-shore drilling off their waters and one of my students asked what that meant.  I explained it meant drilling in deep waters off the coast, and used the current BP oil "mistake" to show what COULD happen.  Of course my students once they heard that, started really villain-izing Drake MacBride, calling him an oil-hungry idiot. 

The hero of the book is a middle school boy named Nick Waters, who unexpectedly ends up entangled in a web of mystery surrounding the disappearance of the most feared teacher at his school, the science teacher Ms. Starch.  Although she is an unpleasant teacher, he and his friend Marta take it upon themselves to figure what has happened to her.  Investigating her disappearance leads them on a trail of an endangered baby panther, unscrupulous oil people, and a radical hippie environmentalist who wants to save Florida from being destroyed by greed.

The book has multiple plot lines so there is quite a bit of bouncing back and forth.  That can be slightly confusing to readers, but eventually the rhythm gets established and it becomes clear who is whom.  In the end all the different plot lines get ironed out, wrapped up, and resolved in a most unexpected way.

Some things to watch out for - there is some violence as Nick's father, who is in the National Guard deployed in Iraq, gets his arm blown off and destroyed by an RPG.  There is the use of the word ass, dumbass, smartass, which not all parents are keen to read.  There are also images of adults drinking, smoking and getting drunk.



His 2nd book - the environmental issue is dumping waste in protected waters


The 1st book - the environmental issue is the destruction of the habitat of tiny owls that burrow into the ground.