"Hoot"
by Carl Hiaasen

Roy Eberhardt's father has been transferred from Montana to Florida and Roy isn't happy about the change. But one day, while he is on the bus to Trace Middle School, he spies a kid running like the wind. What strikes him is that the kid has no shoes on.

Roy couldn't suspect that his life is about to get a lot more interesting. In this Newbery Honor book (2003) for young adults there are some very intriguing characters, among them are: Officer Delinko, who manages to get the windows of his Crown Vic police car spray painted black when he falls asleep on stakeout duty; Curly, the beleaguered construction foreman; Garrett, Roy's classmate who is the king of phony farts; Beatrice the Bear, Mullet Finger's sister and, last but not least, Mullet, a run-away with a cause.

Other characters include the poisonous snakes with sparkly tails, the alligators in the portable latrines on the construction site, the slippery fish and, most important of all, the owls.