Helpful Score: 2
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 wonder. While there might be a scrawled note and a message on her answering machine that states that she has had to deal with a family emergency, people, especially Nick and Marta, aren't buying it.
They are all convinced that Smoke, the kid in Mrs. Starch's class that she dislikes the most, has something to do with her disappearance.
In a whirlwind adventure filled with arson, endangered animals, the Iraq war, the Florida wet lands, a money hungry wannabe oil rigger, and panther poop, Nick and Marta set out to find their missing biology teacher.
Carl Hiaasen definitely has a knack for adventure. Every story he creates always has some crazy plot that makes you think as well as laugh! In this case, Hiaasen poses the problem of destroying the environment for monetary gain and how it affects the ecosystem in a hilarious manner. He also throws in some other great themes to think about: not judging people by their history/the way they look, believing in yourself and never giving up, learning to live with what you've got, and working as a team.
These themes are so important for younger readers (and sometimes older!) to learn, and Hiaasen did such a great job of incorporating them into the book without blatantly stating them. While this book has more of a middle-grade audience, it is great for all ages of readers, although there is a tad bit of language. Overall, I think the book was masterfully written and was a worthwhile and entertaining read.
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 wonder. While there might be a scrawled note and a message on her answering machine that states that she has had to deal with a family emergency, people, especially Nick and Marta, aren't buying it.
They are all convinced that Smoke, the kid in Mrs. Starch's class that she dislikes the most, has something to do with her disappearance.
In a whirlwind adventure filled with arson, endangered animals, the Iraq war, the Florida wet lands, a money hungry wannabe oil rigger, and panther poop, Nick and Marta set out to find their missing biology teacher.
Carl Hiaasen definitely has a knack for adventure. Every story he creates always has some crazy plot that makes you think as well as laugh! In this case, Hiaasen poses the problem of destroying the environment for monetary gain and how it affects the ecosystem in a hilarious manner. He also throws in some other great themes to think about: not judging people by their history/the way they look, believing in yourself and never giving up, learning to live with what you've got, and working as a team.
These themes are so important for younger readers (and sometimes older!) to learn, and Hiaasen did such a great job of incorporating them into the book without blatantly stating them. While this book has more of a middle-grade audience, it is great for all ages of readers, although there is a tad bit of language. Overall, I think the book was masterfully written and was a worthwhile and entertaining read.
Helpful Score: 1
From the perspective of someone 30plus years removed from young adulthood, I found the story boring and predictable (I've read a few of Hiaasen's adult novels), the characters are one dimensional, and it's too easy to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are. I get the impression that Hiaasen cut back on the zaniness for his children's books.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm a teen that is constantly reading. I was super excited about this book. I started reading it, and got bored, so I stopped for a while. It was confusing. Yes, the characters were good. But there were a lot of them. Each chapter was a different person. I finally finished it. I liked how all the stories came together and made an ending that was, yes, predictable, but not in the way you would think! Overall, I thought it was okay. Not the best of Hiaasen's, but it was good. Worth it.
