Rachel's Favorite Book

One of my recent favorite books is called Hoot. This summer I was introduced to this book by the group of 3^rd-5^th graders at the daycare I worked at. Everyday we would read a chapter from this book and talk about what new things were happening and so forth. After finishing we watched the movie Hoot that was based on the book. When I first started reading this book to them I thought it was weird and that I probably wouldn’t end up liking it. After the first few chapters I got really into it and couldn’t wait to find out what went on next. I liked the book because the author really brings the characters to life in the story. He makes them very relatable to children that one would find in any middle school today. The kids in my group really liked the book as well because the writing was silly and kept them engaged.

This book is about a boy named Roy Eberhardt who moves to a new town and starts at a new middle school. In the beginning it talks about his encounters with the school bully and him trying to find a place to fit in. Also in the story you follow a cop who is investigating a series of vandalism's that are happening at the construction site for the new pancake house. Later on it is found out that the “mystery boy” Roy keeps seeing around his bus stop has been vandalizing the property so that the endangered owls living there are not killed by the construction. Throughout the rest of the book it follows Roy and his quest to stop construction on the pancake house so that he can protect the endangered owls.

I would definitely use this book in my classroom once I start teaching. I would recommend it being used for older elementary (3^rd-5^th) because of some of the older elements in it. I think I could incorporate it into a science/animals unit by bringing in the saving the endangered owls from the story. I could also incorporate the whole issue on bullying from the story and get the kids to talk about how they can go about dealing with someone bothering them.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375821813/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_2