My Favorite Book

Hi! I’m Maya, and my favorite book is Scat by Carl Hiaasen. The book Scat is about kids named Marta, Nick, and Duane Scrod Jr. (also known as Smoke). They all go to the same school together, and they all have Mrs. Starch for Biology. However, nobody enjoys having her as a biology teacher. But, one day in class, Mrs. Starch is teaching about the Calvin Cycle and she asked if anyone could tell her about the Calvin Cycle. Nobody raised their hand except for Graham, who always raised his hand but never knew the answer. So, Mrs. Starch scolds Duane for not knowing the answer and Duane makes a couple of jokes nervously and he also kept on picking at a pimple on his face. Mrs. Starch told Duane to write a 500-word essay on pimples, and to make it funny because she said he was such a comedian. She was tapping a pencil on his desk, so he chomped off half of the pencil and walked out the class. Mrs. Starch reports to the principal about Duane walking out the classroom early and chomping off half of the pencil. The principal was more concerned about how dangerous it is to have a pencil go down his throat, than walking out of class early. Also Mrs. Starch’s class was also going on a field trip to Black Vine Swamp the next day. That day Nick and Marta walk home from the bus together, and talk about the field trip the next day and about Duane. When Nick got home he was alone, as usual because his mother works for the jail. Nick rushed to the computer to see if his dad had e-mailed him. His dad worked for the army, and hadn’t e-mailed him in a while. When his mom came home Nick told her about what happened with Duane Scrod Jr. and his mother told him that she had Duane Scrod Sr. in the jail one time. The next day on the field trip, Duane was not at school so his classmates got concerned because the day before he had chomped off half of Mrs. Starch’s pencil and walked off before that period had ended. Nick always wanted to see a panther so he brought a video camera to the field trip. Because they were in Florida they didn’t see very many panthers out because their population was very low. When they got to Black Vine Swamp on the bus, they split up with three teachers. Both Marta and Nick were not in Mrs. Starch’s group. At lunch, they see something moving. Is it a panther? That’s what Nick thinks so he took a video to see what it was, until Mrs. Starch blew a whistle, which meant something dangerous was happening. There was a small wildfire! They all boarded the bus, but Mrs. Starch didn’t get in her car because she went to go find Libby Marshall’s inhaler. The next day Mrs. Starch was missing! If you want to know more about Scat, read the book! Posted by Maya B.