Skip to main content

Chomp



Chomp
by Carl Hiaasen
Knopf, 2012. 290 pgs. Fiction.

When Wahoo Cray's father Mickey gets beaned by a frozen iguana falling out of a tree, Wahoo has to take over a lot of the duties around the "farm" where Mickey wrangles wild animals for a living. Mortgage payments are in arrears so Wahoo's mom heads for China for a tutoring job, and Mickey and Wahoo are happy to be offered big bucks by Expedition: Survival, a "reality" wild animals survival show with a phony doofus of a star named Derek Badger. Mickey and Derek butt heads from the beginning over Derek's treatment of the animals, but things get rapidly more complex when a young girl named Tuna shows up, running from her abusive father, Derek is bitten on the tongue while trying to chow down on a Florida mastiff bat, and everyone lights out into the Everglades during a serious thunder and lightning storm. As usual, Hiaasen's latest book is laugh-out-loud funny with lots of action and zero political correctness. Tuna's beer-drinking, gun-toting, kid- and wife-beating father is more frightening than Hiaasen's other juvenile-book villains, but all's well that ends well in this deft satire/adventure about an unreal reality show gone terribly wrong.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

Five Faves: New Dragon Chapter Books for Middle Grade

As a kid I was OBSESSED (all caps!) with dragons.  Dragons can be scary, majestic, loyal, greedy, but what they all have in common is how fun they are to read about!  Check out the dragon books below for some fun new reads! Dad Rock Dragon Quest Written by Joan Reardon New York : Aladdin, 2025. Fiction. 342 pgs. Dad Rock Dragon Quest follows 12-year-old aspiring rockstar Zadie Drake, whose summer plans to bond with her super cool, if sometimes absent, daredevil park ranger dad get complicated when her mom’s boring new boyfriend tags along. After they arrive at her dad’s cabin, a poacher kidnaps her dad’s ice-breathing dragon, revealing her dad's secret role protecting magical creatures and thrusting the family into a high-stakes rescue mission. Along the way, Zadie begins to rethink her relationships with both her father and her mom’s boyfriend.  Dragonborn Written by Struan Murrya New York, NY : Dutton Children's Books, 2025. Fiction. 320 pgs. Dragonborn  follows 1...

Winter 2026 Book Boxes

Looking for a new read? We’ve got you covered! Check out one of our Book Boxes for kids ages 9-12. Each Book Box contains a book to check out, as well as envelopes filled with fun surprises that you can open as you read along. We have two new books available to check out! Boxes can be put on hold through the library website, and can picked up at the Circulation Desk. Our One Dead Spy and The Case of the Missing Marquess Book Boxes will each be available to pick up from December 19, 2025 through December 30, 2026. Each child aged 9-12 can check out each Book Box once during that time, so get one now to read during winter break, or wait until summer and check it out then! One Dead Spy By Nathan Hale New York : Amulet Books, 2012. 127 pages. Comic. This graphic novel tells the tale of Nathan Hale, one of America's first spies, who was hanged for espionage in 1776. But in this version, just before he is set to be hanged he is eaten by a giant book, which he uses to explain the revoluti...