Hoot: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Roy usually reads comic books on the bus. But on this Monday, he notices the strange running boy along the sidewalk because Dana Matherson, an older bully, sneaks up behind Roy and squeezes his head, forcing his gaze up. It looks like the boy is running to catch the bus, but the boy isn’t really dressed for school—Trace Middle School requires shoes, and the boy is barefoot. The boy keeps running, down the sidewalk and then through a yard. Dana digs his nails into Roy’s scalp, but Roy barely feels it. He’s too curious about the running boy and gasps as the boy evades a big German shepherd dog. Calling Roy “cowgirl,” Dana asks if Roy has had enough. Roy calmly says he has and Dana, who’s 50 pounds heavier and stinks of cigarettes, lets Roy go. Did anyone else see the running boy?

Later that morning, police officer David Delinko stops in at the future site of another Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House to investigate some vandalism. A bald man named Curly meets Officer Delinko there and walks him through the vacant lot on the corner of East Oriole and Woodbury. Suddenly, Curly stops and points to a stick with pink plastic tied around it. It’s a survey stake, and Curly explains that the vandals pulled all the stakes out and filled the holes. Now, they have to remark the site before they can start construction. Officer Delinko asks Curly to estimate the monetary damage, since the vandals didn’t destroy any of the cheap stakes. Annoyed, Curly says it’ll be very expensive to mess up the construction schedule.

Officer Delinko turns to head back to his car and think—but he trips in a hole and falls. Curly pulls him up and mutters, “Stupid owls.” He explains that the pancake-size holes in the ground are owl burrows; the owls are only the size of a beer can, though he’s never actually seen one. At the car, Officer Delinko says the crime isn’t technically vandalism; kids just pulled sticks out of the ground. He acknowledges that it’s weird for prankster kids to fill the holes, but technically, the crime here is trespassing and malicious mischief. Curly doesn’t care as long as he can file an insurance claim. As Officer Delinko gets in his car, he asks what’s going to happen to the owls once the bulldozers get going. Curly asks, “What owls?”

Roy thinks about the running boy all day and looks for him at school, but he sees no one who resembles the boy. Florida is flat and good for running, except for the fact that it’s so hot and humid—the boy must be tough. At lunch, Roy eats alone since he’s the new kid. But he’s good at being the new kid because his dad works for the government and his family moves a lot. A boy named Garrett sits down across from Roy and invites Roy to come skateboard at the mall with him and his buddies. Roy tries to accept with enthusiasm since Garrett is being nice, but he doesn’t like malls and prefers snowboarding to skateboarding.

Garrett is an awful student and the class clown; he’s known for his farting noises. His mom, ironically, is the guidance counselor—maybe she’s too busy guiding other kids to guide Garrett. Roy asks if there are more schools in the area and tells Garrett about the running boy he saw earlier. Garrett says there’s a Catholic school in Fort Myers, but they wear uniforms. He figures the running boy was probably a high school kid skipping class, but Roy isn’t convinced: nobody skips school alone. Roy suggests the kid was an “outlaw,” which just makes Garrett laugh.