Carl Hiaasen. Scat. New York: Knopf, 2009. Print.

Scat is one of Carl Hiaasen’s Florida eco-adventures for young adults. It is not as funny as Chomp or Skink—No Surrender, but it is still an engaging tale with some crazy characters.

Nick Waters and Marta Gonzalez are about the only somewhat normal characters in Scat—typical Hiaasen, down-to-earth kids with wacko grown-ups. Their biology teacher Mrs. Starch disappeared on a field trip to Black Vine Swamp. Her substitute, Dr. Waxmo, chooses random pages for the students to memorize instead of attempting to teach a lesson.

Mrs. Starch is a little unusual herself. She has a collection of stuffed animals in her house—that is, real animals mounted by a taxidermist, not Teddy bears—including a stuffed rat named after a former student. She lives alone. Her husband left her years ago. Rumors about her abound.

Then there is Duane Scrod, Jr., another student in the biology class. He likes to be called Smoke. His mother left his father and him one day and flew to Paris where she has lived ever since. He and his father live in a rundown cabin with a pet Macaw that speaks three languages. His father likes guns, hates, the government, and comes across initially as a stereotyped redneck. However, Mr. Scrod listens to classical music.

Twilly Spree is a little like Clinton Tyree from Skink—No Surrender. He lives away from other people, usually in a tent in the wilderness. He has inherited a lot of money, so he is free to do what he wants. He lives simply and devotes his life to wilderness preservation. Let us just say that he is not always careful about discerning the difference between activism and eco-terrorism.

And there are the bad guys. Drake McBride, the owner of a wildcat oil company, pretends to be a Texas cowboy though he has never ridden a horse in his life and mangles the cowboy slang. His business partner Jimmy Lee Bayliss actually knows about oil drilling, but the two men get greedy when they discover oil in a part of the Black Vine Swamp that is owned by the state.

The title Scat has a double meaning here. It is common expression used to shoo away cats. In Scat the cat of concern is the endangered Florida panther. Scat is also digestive matter which animals leave behind, and finding panther scat helps Twilly and Smoke track a panther through the swamps.

There is a lot more, but even these details show how the action will all come together in Hiaasen’s usual wild style.

N.B.: If this reviewer ever moves to Florida, Carl Hiaasen will be partly to blame.