“Mickey Cray had been out of work ever since a dead iguana fell from a palm tree and hit him on the head.”

Thus begins Chomp by Carl Hiaasen.  Chomp is Carl Hiaasen’s fourth book for children and like the first three books it is set in Florida.  However, in this book he diverges a bit from the pattern of the previous books.  His previous books had a strong ecological/animal preservation theme and while this book has animals aplenty, Chomp is more of an action-y adventure story in a nature setting.  The divergence is refreshing and keeps the story from becoming too predictable.  The buffoon antics of a television actor are a bit tiresome and the characters are mostly one-dimensional, but it is still a smooth read thanks to Hiassen’s top-notch, rapid-fire dialogue and tongue-in-cheek humor.  Young readers who loved his previous books will not be disappointed!

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  3 religious exclamations; 3 mild obscenities; 3 anatomical terms.

Violence/Gore: An object falls on a character’s head resulting in injury; report of an animal biting off a finger; report of snake bites; python tries to eat a person (told in humorous manner); an animal bites a character’s nose; report of various injuries during filming; report of a father hitting a girl and the girl reports she hit him back; an animal bites a character’s tongue; a boat crash; a character is shot in the shoulder and brief description of wound treatment; report of a stick-up and robbery; a character is shot and wounded; characters tackle/struggle; a character bites another character’s neck (told humorously).

Sex/Nudity:  A man is only in his boxers.

Mature Subject Matter:

Child/spouse abuse, disability, financial hardship, unemployment.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

An adult character is a drunk and drinks beer frequently.