Hoot Study Guide

Chapter 4

Roy has to stay home all weekend to make sure he’s okay and even though he’s nervous about seeing Dana for the first time, there’s no sign of him at school. Garrett tells Roy that everyone is talking about what he did to Dana and they all think he’s a tough guy. This bothers Roy who doesn’t want to stand out in any way. He just wants to blend in quietly. Roy asks Garrett to tell him who the tall girl with the red glasses is, and he discovers that her name is Beatrice Leep, she’s a major soccer jock, and she has a major attitude. She’s so tough that she broke the collarbone of a lineman on the football team after he slapped her on her bottom.

Officer Delinko looks forward to getting up early and scouting the construction site. He sees the solving of the case as a chance to show he has the right stuff to become a detective. He sits in his squad car with his headlights on and that’s when he sees the owls. He turns off the headlights, hoping he hasn’t scared off the birds from their nest. It’s so early, Officer Delinko soon nods off. He awakens and everything is so dark he wonders if he has slept through until nighttime. Then, there is a pounding on his window, and when he opens the door with his gun extended, he sees it’s Curly, and the darkness he is experiencing is due to the fact that someone spray painted his car windows while he slept. Furthermore, the survey stakes have once again been pulled up.

At school, Roy comes to the conclusion that something has to be done: he can’t spend the rest of the year avoiding Dana Matherson and Beatrice Leep. He begins by walking over to the table where Beatrice is eating lunch with his friends. He apologizes to her for whatever she thinks he did which, of course, he doesn’t know. He tells her that if she ever has any problem with him again, she should sit down with him and discuss it like civilized people. Beatrice is so amazed that she can’t say a word, and Roy just walks away.

Then, Roy asks Garrett to sneak into his mother’s office and get Dana’s address. When he arrives at Dana’s house, he finds Dana’s mother is amused that “a little twerp” like him was able to break Dana’s nose. Dana comes downstairs and Roy gives him the apology. Dana warns him that they’ll settle up when he returns to school. Roy leaves with Dana and his mother fighting over the apology letter on their porch.

Notes

Once again, the reader sees that Roy is not a typical teen. He has the maturity to settle his differences with both Beatrice and Dana. He has the “right stuff” that Officer Delinko so much wants, but has been unable to achieve. However, in spite of the damage to the squad car that Delinko allowed to happen, he shows he’s a compassionate man in the way he treats the owls. This foreshadows that he will be perhaps be on the side of the birds when their habitat is threatened.