Sunday, March 11, 2012

Chomp by Carl Hiaasen

Take a demented TV star who thinks he's a "Steve Irwin" clone and mix him with a wild animal wrangler, the wrangler's son, an abused girl, and air boats and you've got the general ingredients for this wild ride through the swamps of Florida...

Random House and Edelweiss allowed me to download an ebook of this story for review (thank you).  It will be available at your local bookstore at the end of the month.

This is an action packed story with lots of ridiculous situations that will have middle grade readers snorting with laughter.  

The TV star is a fake.  He does gross things that the kids will enjoy. The wild animal wrangler is a bit weird, too, but he's a good Dad and he's the one who took his son's friend in to protect her from her father.  Both the girl and the boy are named after fish.  In between the busy plot scenes, you learn a lot about the animals in the Florida swamps.

I could relate to the air boats in the story.  My husband I went to Florida on vacation and took a ride on them.  They are big, noisy, and move fast on the swamp water.  We almost got a gator inside, too, because the German guy thought he could pet them.  So while the tale in the story sounds far-fetched, it's not as far off as you would think.

This is a busy read that should keep the reader glued to his/her chair as they see if everyone makes it out alive.  I had fun reading it.  Why don't you try it?

Happy reading.   

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