Squirm

June 15, 2018
Billy Dickens is not the kind of kid who suffers bullies or poachers or absent parents.Billy's dad left when Billy was 3. Checks arrive on the 10th of every month, but Billy's mom destroys the envelopes to keep the return address from Billy. Shortly before summer vacation, Billy pieces one together and discovers his father's in Montana, so he leaves Florida to find him. Billy's tired of his mother's evasiveness about his father--all he knows is that he's got a new wife and family--and Billy's ready for answers. In Montana, Billy meets Lil, his stepmother, and Summer, his stepsister, both members of the Crow Nation. But not his dad. Lil and Summer profess to know as little as his mother about his dad's actual job, but they don't mind having Billy wait with them for him to return (they even give him a little primer on U.S.-Native Nations relations). When his father's truck is found abandoned with slashed tires, they get a message via drone: "See you in Florida." Billy's had enough. He tracks his dad down, but that turns out to be just the beginning of his adventure. Hiaasen's newest wildlife-centered caper for middle graders is characteristically entertaining--and, just as characteristically, genially improbable. Narrator Billy's white, a sarcastic outsider with a strong sense of justice and a deep affection for snakes. Humorous, self-deprecating narration and convoluted exploits will keep pages turning till the satisfying close. (Fiction. 9-14)

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 13, 2018
The focus of the latest eco-adventure by Hiaasen (Chomp) is not an endangered animal but an elusive one: Billy Dickens’s absent father. When Billy was three or four, his dad disappeared, though support checks still arrive monthly. Billy’s mother, a bird lover, moves him and his older sister every few years so she can live within 15 minutes of an active eagle’s nest. She’s an otherwise responsible party, but she aggravates Billy in one other way: she refuses to share information about his father’s whereabouts. Billy pieces together his dad’s address in Montana after fishing bits of an envelope from the trash, and he uses his mother’s credit card to book a flight there from Florida. (Mature beyond his years, he leaves a check from his own savings to cover airfare.) In Livingston, Billy meets his father’s new wife and his stepsister, both members of the Crow Nation, and becomes embroiled in his father’s well-intentioned but dangerous attempts to protect wildlife from trophy hunters. Billy is an admirable kid with deeply improbable snake-handling abilities, and the story never quite fulfills the promise of singularity offered in the opening scene, wherein Billy keeps people out of his school locker by placing an Eastern diamondback there. Ages 8–12. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

August 1, 2018
Grades 5-8 Billy Dickens isn't your typical tween?unless your typical tween has a thing for rattlesnakes. His dad's been out of the picture for as long as he can remember, but when Billy gets ahold of his address?Montana, not far from Yellowstone?the savvy, brave oddball flies out there solo to track him down. What he finds instead is his stepsister, Summer Chasing-Hawks, and his dad's new wife, Little Thunder Sky, aka Lil, both Crow Indians. Unfortunately, his dad's not so easy to track down. As the story spans from Montana to Florida and back, Billy continues to find and lose his father, who's in a bit of a wild goose chase himself, hunting down rich-boy poacher Lincoln Chumley Baxter. As always, Hiaasen's latest is richly steeped in the natural world and all the peril it contains, from rattlers to grizzlies. Still, what may be most satisfying for readers are the personal connections Billy makes, whether it's getting to know his new stepsister or making peace with his dad. Hiaasen's fan base will relish his latest tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Billy discovers that his long-absent dad has a job that's both dangerous and noble: tracking down poachers who are killing threatened wildlife. His father sets his sights on a rich hunter who wants to kill both a Montana grizzly and a Florida black panther. This pulse-pounding environmentalist adventure story features nuanced characters and enduring themes about family, the environment, and the ends justifying the means.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2019
Billy Dickens accepts his mother's peripatetic ways as she moves all over Florida feeding her passion for living near nesting bald eagles. Such a lifestyle has made Billy somewhat of a loner, but one who bravely (and often cleverly) sticks up for underdogs such as a bullied classmate, misunderstood snakes, and at times even himself. Still, there is a hole in his life. Billy's father left the family?under mysterious circumstances?when his son was only four. Then Billy finds out his father lives in Montana and decides to make an impromptu visit. He discovers that his dad has a new family, a mysterious occupation, and something that had been preventing him from seeing Billy. That something is both dangerous and noble: his father's job entails tracking down poachers who are killing threatened wildlife and stopping them. This time he sets his sights on a rich hunter who wants to kill both a Montana grizzly and a Florida black panther. The story moves back and forth between the two states, where in both settings readers are treated to an entertaining, pulse-pounding environmentalist story. In Hiaasen's books, causes can sometimes overshadow characterization, but here readers meet nuanced characters undertaking a bold adventure, with enduring themes about family, the environment, and the end justifying the means. betty carter

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)