How does Hiaasen follow up his page-turning novel about saving owls in Florida (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Hoot)? With a second fast-paced story featuring an environmental theme—this time about ocean pollutants harming turtles' habitats (and the surroundings in general) in the Florida Keys. Welch (TV's <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Joan of Arcadia) has a compelling, snappy delivery suited to 11-year-old Noah's personality; he's a clever kid who wants to set things right, even when it pits him against shady characters and the local bully. Noah is exasperated over his father's arrest for sinking a casino boat that the man believes is flushing sewage into the ocean. The boy also knows that proving his dad's suspicions could go a long way toward healing his strained family and saving the ocean. Welch handily captures Noah's moods, though not even he can make eccentrics such as Lice Peeking and his burly bartending girlfriend Shelly likable at the outset (they grow on listeners, however). Those who couldn't get enough of Hiaasen's last outing will find plenty to hoot about in this solid recording. Ages 10-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

Gr 5-8 Noah and his sister, Abbey, are more understanding of their volatile dad's latest arrest than their mother, who begins talking of divorce. Dad sank the Coral Queen , a casino boat on a Florida Key because, he alleges, its owner, Dusty Muleman, has been illegally dumping raw sewage into the local waters. Soon enough the kids begin trying to gather proof that will vindicate their father and put the casino out of business. The colorful cast includes a drunken lout named Lice who disappears before he can be persuaded to testify against Dusty, his former boss. His rough-around-the-edges girlfriend, Shelly, comes through, though, helping the siblings dump dye in the boat's holding tanks, which finally brings the matter to court. Dusty's son, Jasper, is a chip off the old block, threatening and beating Noah on several occasions until he and, later, Abbey are rescued by a mysterious stranger who turns out to be their grandfather, long ago thought to have died in South America, probably while involved in drug smuggling. As the tale ends, he's back to Colombia to settle old scores. The plot would practically disappear if any one of the major characters had a cell phone, but the environmental story is front and center and readers will be hooked as the good guys try to do the right thing. This quick-reading, fun, family adventure harkens back to the Hardy Boys in its simplicity and quirky characters. Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA

Hiaasen's latest plunge into the young adult literary world enables librarians to acquire a mystery marked by quality writing, humor, and suspense, but the book also avoids overbearing teen angst and does not smack of After-School-Special. Wise-beyond-their-years siblings Noah Underwood and his younger sister, Abbey, have formed a long-standing agreement that has Noah keeping an eye on his father and Abbey looking after their mother. Following the sinking of a casino yacht, Paine Underwood, Noah's father and a former fishing guide, who fearlessly challenges authority and is proud of his civil disobedience, is thrown in prison. During a Father's Day jail visit, Noah learns that the yacht's owner, slimy Dusty Muleman, had been dumping raw sewage into the water, ruining the swimming beach and endangering the breeding turf of loggerhead turtles, thus providing Paine's motivation for sinking the floating gambling hall. Exhausted by her husband's shenanigans, Mrs. Underwood threatens to end the marriage, providing added incentive for the intrepid teens to launch a hazardous plan. The son revisits the sins of the father when Noah-with steadfast assistance from Abbey-hatches a devious scheme to exonerate his father and prove beyond a doubt that the greedy Muleman really was dumping nasty waste into the bay. In this follow-up to Hoot (Knopf, 2002/VOYA October 2002), Hiaasen's mastery of droll dialogue and entertaining descriptions prevent the large cast of quirky characters from falling into stereotypical traps. The skillful pacing of the somewhat intricate plot keeps the pages turning, making this extremely amusing book a welcome addition to all teen collections.-Rollie Welch.

Middle-schooler Brady Parks heroically rescues a little boy involved in a kayaking accident, but triumph turns to tragedy when the boy later dies and Brady realizes that his best friends sabotaged the boat as a spiteful prank. The deliberately paced novel features a strong Chesapeake Bay setting and a thought-provoking moral dilemma as Brady debates whether to turn in his friends.

What's a kid to do when his dad's thrown in jail for an unsuccessful act of ecoterrorism? Why, do it better, of course. Readers first meet Noah Underwood in the visiting room of the Florida Keys jail where his father proudly waits for justice to be done to the owner of the Coral Queen , the casino boat that regularly and illegally dumps raw sewage into the bay. Hiaasen surrounds Noah with his usual cast of supporting characters: a stoic little sister, a hard-drinking bleached-blonde bartender with a heart of gold, various thuggish lowlifes and a mysterious figure who appears from the jungle to save the day. The whole here is rather less than the sum of its parts, as the plot takes some time to take off and Noah's first-person narration necessarily limits the loony heights (or depths) Hiaasen can attain in plumbing the psyches of his villains. But Noah's determination and sense of right comes straight from the author's heart, and readers will cheer as he and his cohorts scuttle once and for all the activities of the Coral Queen . (Fiction. 10+)

Hiaasen's second novel exhibits some of the same elements found in his 2003 Newbery Honor Book: Florida local color, oddball adults (buxom and brawny), and a delightful quirkiness. But the sparkle that catapulted Hoot into the limelight isn't quite as brilliant here. Even so, there's plenty to like in this yarn, which, once again, drops an environmental issue into the lap of a kid. Righteous indignation, usually resulting from some sabotage of Florida's natural resources, has gotten Noah Underwood's dad in trouble before. This time, however, Dad's gone too far: he sunk a floating casino. Why? Its owner is dumping human waste in the water. Unfortunately, Dad can't prove it, and that's where Noah and his younger sister, Abbey, come in. The amateur sleuthing puts the sibs into some mildly suspenseful, occasionally amusing, situations, which, as in the previous book, share space with run-ins with a local bully (Noah takes some lumps but gets sweet revenge). An old-fashioned deus ex machina interrupts an otherwise believable setup, but Hiaasen still succeeds at relating an entertaining story while getting across a serious message about conservation and the results of just plain greed.