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Nov 30, 2008

Monica rated it:

I enjoyed SCAT as I did the first two of Hiassen's kid books and I'm sure kids are going to enjoy it too. Florida, school story, spunky kids, endangered animals (even more, a baby endangered animal), creepy bad guys who deserve all they get, moving parents --- a very nice package indeed.

I'm a fan of Hiaasen's adult books and feel he is now getting more and more into the groove of writing for children as distinct from writing for adults. I liked FLUSH better than HOOT and like SCAT More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2009

Diana rated it:

I've been a major fan of Hiaasen's since Tourist Season was first published. I love a book that makes me laugh out loud and I love quirky characters. Readers who haven't read a lot of Hiaasen should really enjoy this. When Nick and the rest of his science class are on a field trip in the Black Vine Swamp a fire breaks out and everyone heads back to the school except Mrs. Starch, a rather vicious teacher who goes back for a girl's inhaler and subsequently disappears. When the fire is discovered t

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 01, 2009

Abbie rated it:

Carl Hiaasen has written another good environmental book. My only complaint is that it every book seems to follow the same pattern. The main character is some kid who accidentally gets involved in some issue and helps another person whose idea of saving the environment is pulling pranks on those who are committing environmental crime. This person is always elusive, dangerous and never wants credit. It was pretty good in general though.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2009

Colleen rated it:

We listened to this as a book on tape while driving back North from vacation. We all LOVED it!!! No one spoke for hours! Ed Asner is amazing reading with so many different voices. Carl has hit another home run with this latest.

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2009

Valerie rated it:

This author never fails to amuse. That said, I think Flush is my favorite of the 3 YA books. I'll have to wait and get a review from my YA child. I think this book is one of those that could guide the formative morality of young people.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 02, 2010

Martha rated it:

I started reading this book thinking it was good but then it ruined my life.
CARL REALLY NEEDS TO GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!
NEVER READ IT

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 03, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Summary: Nick and Marta—not to mention everyone else at school—hate their biology teacher, Mrs. Starch. But when Mrs. Starch disappears during a school field trip and nobody seems all that concerned, Nick and Marta realize it’s up to them to find her.

Review: I liked Hoot and Flush, but I never really got into Hiaasen’s latest middle-grade novel. It could be that I’m getting pickier as I refine my YA-wannabe reading skills.

Things I didn’t like:

* Flat charac More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2009

Kate rated it:

Whenever I'm tempted to give an imperfect book less than 5 stars, I remember I should be grading on a curve--after all, I've only read a handful of "perfect" books! And Scat, with its minor imperfections, is still fantastic compared to most children's adventure books out there.

This is Hiassen's third book for children, and I thought it read a little more YA than the first two. (If you've read any of the author's anarchical, comical books for grown-ups, you know he has to pu More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

Claudia rated it:

English Claudia
Scat Book Review October 10/27/11
Scat is a book about a strict teacher, Mrs. Starch, and 3 of her students, Smoke, Marta, and Nick. One day, Smoke is being picked on by his biology teacher, Mrs. Starch, bites off the tip of her pencil, and swallows the whole th More...

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Aug 01, 2011

Jen rated it:

Scat may be the last Carl Hiassen book for young adults that I’ll need to read. The author of Hoot and Flush strayed very little from his basic formula in which a rather normal kid, in conjunction with an array of misfits, discovers bad guys destroying the Florida environment and thwarts their plans. In the case of Scat, the environmental destruction involved illegal oil drilling in the everglades in the vicinity of an endangered panther.

It’s clear why the formula works: kids love the envir More...

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Jul 28, 2011

Lisa rated it:

The third of Hiaasen's books for young readers is much like the first, and, perhaps more like many of his adult novels, featuring a cast of intrepid, young students with a strong emphasis on environmental protection. When their severe and much maligned biology teacher, Bunny Starch, goes missing after a thwarted field trip to the Black Pine Swamp, Nick and Marta decide to investigate for themselves, convinced that their classmate, Duane Scrod, Jr., aka Smoke, may be involved in some way. What e More...

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May 31, 2011

William rated it:

This book felt like an adult author dumbing down his style to write for kids, after reading this I read one of Hiaasen's adult novels which only increased this belief. His ability to make crude sex jokes taken away, this book lost any humor and style that his other's seem to have.

When their biology teacher, universally disliked, goes missing after a class field trip to the Everglades Nick and Marta, and the police, suspect class delinqent Smoke of being involved. As the kids investig More...

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May 15, 2011

Yolanda rated it:

Like the other books in this Carl Hiaasen series, Scat is a mystery novel with an environmental message. The mystery involves the sudden disappearance of a not-so-popular teacher, Mrs. Starch, after a fire puts a sudden end to a class field trip in the Black Vine Swamp. In the process of solving the mystery, the destruction of the everglades and endangerment of the Florida panther by a greedy, wannabe Texas oilman is revealed.

Because the story is told in 3rd person, the reader know More...

1 comment like

May 09, 2011

Jodi rated it:

Scat was the latest Nutmeg nominee that I tackled and I can say that it was definitely not my favorite. (Although, definitely not the worst - I'm talking to you, Genius of Unspeakable Evil). I knew that, being a Carl Hiaasen book, I was in for an environmental-themed story. It would have probably been OK if it had just focused on that story line, however, it didn't. There were too many different plots happening throughout the story - a missing teacher! A pyro student! A corrupt oil drilling comp More...

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May 02, 2011

Jodi rated it:

Scat was the latest Nutmeg nominee that I tackled and I can say that it was definitely not my favorite. (Although, definitely not the worst - I'm talking to you, Genius of Unspeakable Evil). I knew that, being a Carl Hiaasen book, I was in for an environmental-themed story. It would have probably been OK if it had just focused on that story line, however, it didn't. There were too many different plots happening throughout the story - a missing teacher! A pyro student! A corrupt oil dr More...

0 comments like

Aug 29, 2010

Barky rated it:

Nick and Marta’s biology class’ field trip to a local swamp/nature reserve is cut short when a brush fire breaks out. Their tyrannical biology teacher, Mrs. Starch re-enters the conflagration to find one of her students’ medication, and doesn’t come out again. When authorities learn that Duane Scrod (‘Smoke’), one of her students, threatened her and has a history of committing acts of arson, they try to pick him up for questioning, but he’s missing, too. Nick and Marta decide to find out what More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 15, 2010

M. rated it:

2011 Rebecca Caudill nominee. Nick's much disliked biology teacher, Mrs. Starch, disappeared during a class field trip to the Black Vine Swamp. There was a brush fire while the class was there, Mrs. Starch went back to get a forgotten asthma inhaler, and she never returned although she seems to be alive and well...somewhere. Nick and his friend Marta try to find out what happened. One student is accused but did he set the fire? And who is the guy wearing a ski beanie while driving around in More...

0 comments like

Aug 10, 2010

Mary rated it:

Fantastic! Right up my alley, maybe his best book yet! I loved it! This book deals with so many issues: environmental, honesty, relationships, trust, education, endangered animals, making good choices, and it does it all in an engaging and spell-binding way. I recommend it highly. :-D

Liesl says, "They [Hiassen's YA books:] are all, however, a little redundant. Same characters, same setting, same basic issue, same story format. You can predict it all." I felt that way More...

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Oct 24, 2009

MsBrie rated it:

As a Hiaasen book I found Scat to be relatively enjoyable. Though I found myself glued to this Young Adult novel at the beginning, I gradually felt myself losing interest towards the end. Somehow the absurdness of certain plot twists nagged me.

However, I do want to commend Hiaasen for his ability to include current events and popular vernacular. I found it admirable he included mention of the Iraq War in his novel (as the protagonist's father was returning from it) and I appreciated More...

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Jul 10, 2009

Tony rated it:

Hiaasen, Carl. SCAT. (2009). ****. This is the third in Hiaasen’s Young-Adult series, after “Hoot,” (a Newberry Prize winner), and “Flush.” Like the first two, the story is built around some concern for the ecology of Florida and how big business is trying to destroy it in its lust for money. Unlike the first two, however, this novel provides a little more depth to its characters and brings in events from our current world. The hero’s father has been posted to Iraq and is seriously wounde More...

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Jun 17, 2009

Kris rated it:

I am a huge fan of Carl Hiassen. I lived in South Florida for several years and fell in love with his world. He is gifted at creating colorful casts of characters, from the greedy real estate and oil tycoons to the idealists who use guerilla tactics to save the environment.

He gives is his usual cast of fantastic characters, such as a teacher who wears a tuxedo with a yellow bow-tie and teaches science based on the page number and not the content. Duane Scrod Sr. uses needle nose p More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 20, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Tasha for TeensReadToo.com

Nick and Marta are two of the lucky eighth-grade students in Mrs. Starch's (who just happens to be the most feared teacher in the history of the world!) biology class. Every day they sit and pass notes back and forth to each other, discussing their fear of being called on.

The day after their field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, something mysterious happens. Mrs. Starch doesn't come back, and she is never absent, and people start to won More...

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Nov 04, 2011

Meghan rated it:

Nick and Marta are in Mrs. Starch’s biology class. From the first pages you can feel the mood of the class. This is not a place you want to be. Marta gets nervous when Mrs. Starch is calling on students and Nick tries to distract the teacher by answering the question at hand. No need for Nick to do this, Mrs. Starch becomes occupied with Duane, aka “Smoke”. Smoke is literally chewing the teacher’s pencil which Mrs. Starch is both annoyed and amused by. Smoke and Starch have a war with wor More...

4 comments like

Jun 26, 2010

icybytes rated it:

You may be wondering WHY, exactly, I put this book, Scat by Carl Hiaasen, as a -day--book. I have particular 'day' books and 'night' books. Day books are the books that may give me nightmares. Yes, I do get nightmares still! So somewhat in the middle of this book I realized it was a bit scary...and might give me major bad dreams. I marked it as a 'day' book in my mind and stuck with it, thus reading it only between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., or when I wake up to noon :)

B More...

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Feb 26, 2010

Josiah rated it:

Carl Hiaasen certainly knows what he's doing when it comes to the writing of books. The multilayered plots that comprise Scat lie one upon the other in excellent harmony, forming a story that is intriguing and gripping and, at times, even genuinely touching.

Scat is, by its nature, something of a rarity among other juvenile novels, since it is told from the objective third-person view. We see the story from all related angles and perspectives, including the point of view of the bad More...

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Oct 28, 2009

Dee rated it:

Oil scams? Endangered Panthers? Cold pizza? A stuffed rat named Chelsea?

"Scat" has it all.

After a rocky incident between Smoke, the class troublemaker, and Mrs. Starch, the most feared biology teacher on the planet, strange things begin to happen in Black Vine Swamp. When a forest fire breaks out on a class field trip, Mrs. Startch enters the swamp... and never comes out. Nick and his best friend Marta then embarck on a quest to find Mrs. Starch as well as fig More...

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Apr 01, 2011

Alice rated it:

Hiaasen's books are always good for a few laughs and some amusement value, and this one is no different. His YA novels are quite toned-down from his adult works, but that doesn't quite make them tame.

It had been a long while since I'd read Sick Puppy, so I didn't really remember who Twilly Spree was. He's cut from the same cloth, though, as the feral Clinton Tyree, the former governor of Florida. That they collaborated in Sick Puppy I had entirely forgotten until I browsed Wikiped More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 06, 2010

Janis rated it:

...narrated by ED ASNER!?! Lou Grant!?! When I first began listening, I was not at all sure about the choice for narrator, but was pleasantly surprised.

I haven't read any of Hiassen's adult fiction, but always enjoy his works for youth. These books always demonstrate an appreciation for nature, and how children can make a difference. Hoot was about owls, Flush about illegal dumping in water, and now Scat--about oil drilling in protected forests.

The title reflects both mea More...

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Jul 23, 2009

Lv2readB rated it:

Hiaasen, C. (2009). Scat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Summary:
Nick and his friend Marta become amateur detectives when suspicious events occur surrounding their unpopular biology teacher, Mrs. Starch, a boy in their class named “Smoke”, and a mysterious fire in the Florida wildlife preserve.

Reviews/Awards:
Voice of Youth Advocate 4/1/2009
School Library Journal 1/1/2009
Booklist 11/1/2008
Publisher's Weekly 10/27/2008
2009 Kid's Indie N More...

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Jul 07, 2011

Kailia rated it:

People say that with authors who write mainly stand alone books, the author’s first book tends to be strong. Though I enjoyed his first two books a lot, I wasn’t sure what I was gonna get with Scat! I knew three things before I began: 1) Florida would be the setting 2) an endangered species would be the main focus and 3) people were going to help protect this species.

Scat, honestly, fell flat for me and I was super disappointed in this fact. The characters, like Nick and Marta weren More...

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