Previous
Leon Leep
One of the novel’s antagonists, Lonna is Mullet Fingers’s mom and Beatrice’s stepmother. She married Beatrice’s dad, Leon, several years ago. Lonna is cruel, selfish, and controlling—when she couldn’t stop Mullet Fingers from rescuing animals or running off, she began sending him away to military schools. The last time, when he ran away, she never looked for him and told Beatrice outright that she doesn’t want him anymore. She’s also cruel to Beatrice and forces Beatrice to essentially act as a maid in the Leep home, though Beatrice does occasionally fight back against her stepmother. Lonna is more than willing to use Mullet Fingers and the publicity that the protest against Mother Paula’s generated to try to get news outlets to pay attention to her, but true to form, she has no issue accusing her son of theft to get him arrested when the media stops returning her phone calls.
Lonna Leep Quotes in Hoot
The Hoot quotes below are all either spoken by Lonna Leep or refer to Lonna Leep. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
Beatrice Leep had laughed. “No, he’s not an Indian! I call him Mullet Fingers ’cause he can catch mullet with his bare hands. You know how hard that is?”
A mullet was a slippery, free-jumping baitfish that traveled in schools of hundreds. The bay near Coconut Cove was full of them in the spring. Throwing a cast net was the customary method of capture.
“Why doesn’t he live at home?” Roy had asked Beatrice.
“Long story. Plus, none of your business.”
“What about school?”
“My brother got shipped off to a ‘special’ school. He lasted two whole days before he ran away. Then he hitchhiked back, all the way from Mobile, Alabama.”
“What about your parents?”
“They don’t know he’s here, and I’m not gonna tell ’em. Nobody is gonna tell. You understand?”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
Roy stood rooted in the center of the road. He had an important decision to make, and quickly. From one direction came the police car; running in the other direction were his two friends...
Well, the closest things to friends that he had in Coconut Cove.
Roy drew a deep breath and dashed after them. He heard a honk, but he kept going, hoping that the police officer wouldn’t jump out and chase him on foot. Roy didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, but he wondered if he could get in trouble for helping Mullet Fingers, a fugitive from the school system.
The kid was only trying to take care of some owls—how could that possibly be a crime? Roy thought.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
“Dad wants my brother to come back and live with us again, but Lonna says no way, José, he’s a bad seed. What the heck does that mean, Tex? ‘Bad seed.’ Anyway, they’re still not speakin’ to each other, Lonna and my dad. The whole house feels like it’s about to explode.”
To Roy, Beatrice’s situation sounded like a living nightmare. “Need a place to hide out?” he asked.
“That’s okay. Dad says he feels better when I’m around.”
Get the entire Hoot LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lonna Leep Quotes in Hoot
The Hoot quotes below are all either spoken by Lonna Leep or refer to Lonna Leep. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
Beatrice Leep had laughed. “No, he’s not an Indian! I call him Mullet Fingers ’cause he can catch mullet with his bare hands. You know how hard that is?”
A mullet was a slippery, free-jumping baitfish that traveled in schools of hundreds. The bay near Coconut Cove was full of them in the spring. Throwing a cast net was the customary method of capture.
“Why doesn’t he live at home?” Roy had asked Beatrice.
“Long story. Plus, none of your business.”
“What about school?”
“My brother got shipped off to a ‘special’ school. He lasted two whole days before he ran away. Then he hitchhiked back, all the way from Mobile, Alabama.”
“What about your parents?”
“They don’t know he’s here, and I’m not gonna tell ’em. Nobody is gonna tell. You understand?”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11
Quotes
Roy stood rooted in the center of the road. He had an important decision to make, and quickly. From one direction came the police car; running in the other direction were his two friends...
Well, the closest things to friends that he had in Coconut Cove.
Roy drew a deep breath and dashed after them. He heard a honk, but he kept going, hoping that the police officer wouldn’t jump out and chase him on foot. Roy didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, but he wondered if he could get in trouble for helping Mullet Fingers, a fugitive from the school system.
The kid was only trying to take care of some owls—how could that possibly be a crime? Roy thought.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
“Dad wants my brother to come back and live with us again, but Lonna says no way, José, he’s a bad seed. What the heck does that mean, Tex? ‘Bad seed.’ Anyway, they’re still not speakin’ to each other, Lonna and my dad. The whole house feels like it’s about to explode.”
To Roy, Beatrice’s situation sounded like a living nightmare. “Need a place to hide out?” he asked.
“That’s okay. Dad says he feels better when I’m around.”
