This may well be Carl Hiaasen's (Hoot) best book for young people yet. He combines the humor of the backstage workings of a reality show with weightier themes, such as how the young hero's family contends with an economically challenged Florida.
Wahoo Cray's father, Mickey, named the boy for professional wrestler and former Dolphins linebacker Wahoo McDaniel. Wahoo has been the man of the house ever since Mickey, a professional animal wrangler, received a concussion from a frozen iguana that fell from a palm tree during a Florida hard freeze. Wahoo's mother heads to China for two months to teach Mandarin Chinese to businessmen and help pay the family's mortgage while her husband recovers. Meanwhile, Wahoo cleans Alice the alligator's pond and feeds Gary and Gail, their Galápagos tortoises, among other duties. Then Wahoo answers a call from Derek Badger, star of Expedition Survival!, a reality show in which Badger faces fierce animals and venomous snakes in the wilderness. Badger wants to wrestle Alice plus one of the Cray's pythons. Wahoo accepts the $1,000-a-day job.
At least half the fun of the novel derives from the clash between Mickey Cray, a true nature lover, and showboater supreme Badger (whom Mickey often calls "Beaver") while Wahoo tries to smooth things over so they can collect their much-needed cash. After Badger nearly drowns "riding" Alice, doing everything Mickey told him not to do ("Nothing upset his father more than the mistreatment of an animal," Wahoo observes), things get really out of hand when Badger decides he wants to wrestle wild (untamed) creatures in the Everglades and to bring Mickey and Wahoo along. When Mickey discovers one of Wahoo's classmates, Tuna, is being threatened by her alcoholic father, they invite Tuna to come with them, too. The author ratchets up the suspense when Tuna's father tracks them down and behaves as unpredictably as the dangerous animals in the wild.
Hiaasen keeps many balls in the air, then brings them all in for a safe and wholly entertaining landing. He renders his portrayals of the adults as fully as he does the children. While there's plenty of humor at Badger's expense, even the narcissistic reality show host reveals some redeeming qualities--as do the opportunistic store owner in the town where they shoot their episode and the captain of a boat for hire.
Hiaasen's intimate knowledge of Florida coupled with his strong characterizations of both young people and adults have become his trademark. With his compassion for the state's hard-hit citizens and his awe of its natural wonders, he may have outdone himself with this exceptional novel. Readers will wish for more from the memorable Cray family. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: A magnetic father-son team gets drafted for an out-of-control nature reality show episode in Florida in Hiaasen's best book for young people yet.