Scat

by Carl Hiaasen
371 pgs

Nick and Marta are not crazy about their teacher, Mrs. Starch. She's strict and mean, and makes one of her students write a 500-word essay on zits when he bites off (and eats) a pencil she was pointing at his face. But when a wildfire breaks out while the class is on a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp and Mrs. Starch is separated from the group and then doesn't show up to school the next day, Nick and Marta believe that there's more going on than what they're being told by the school's Headmaster. 

Their investigation take them back into the swamp where they stumble across two things: an illegal drilling operation being conducted by a shady oil company, and evidence (see book title) of a highly endangered panther in the area. They eventually learn that the panther abandoned her cub during the wildfire and their mission evolves into reuniting the cub with its mother. 

Scat is one of a few books that Carl Hiaasen has written for a younger audience (10 and up). His others are Hoot, Chomp, Flush, and Skink--No Surrender. Each of them has an environmental backstory and will appeal to both younger and older audiences alike. They're the type of books that parents can read to elementary-age children and will enjoy just as much as their children will.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆