Mickey Cray and his high school age son Wahoo, named for a wrestler not the fish, are animal wranglers in the Florida Everglades. They are hired to help with the production of the Untamed Channel’s smash hit show Expedition Survival!
The host, Derek Badger, a pot-bellied impostor of a survivalist believes his own studio biography and thinks he can put the “real back in reality
television.” What ensues involves multiple failed attempts by Badger to be heroic and brave for the camera with a variety of animals and reptiles from Alice the semi-tame alligator to a Mastiff bat that does some painful damage to the television star. Anyone who enjoys watching The Animal Planet or The Discovery Channel will love this book.
A sub-plot involving a classmate of Wahoo who comes along because of her drunken father’s abuse adds more excitement to an already full plot but you have to love Tuna Gordon and how she spouts the scientific name for every creature they encounter along the way.
This is a laugh-out-loud book and middle school students as well as high school students will enjoy Chomp. ( )

In this super funny story for tweens, Hiaasen introduces the reader to the super cool adventure dude who is dropped into extreme environments, lives off the land with the help of only his wits and knife. In reality, the adventurer is a highly paid actor with an over-inflated ego, who couldn't survive without his personal assistant. Hair raising adventure, side splitting humor, and never preachy message that you must respect nature. ( )

CW: Domestic abuse - father beats daughter.

1.5 Stars ( )

Mickey and his son Wahoo take care of animals that are used on screen. When reality survival star Derek Badger wants to hire their alligator, Alice, to “wrestle” with for his tv show, Mickey is not impressed with Derek. Even “better” is when Derek decides he wants to really head to the wild in the Everglades to do some filming. Wahoo’s friend, Tuna, who is running from her abusive father, comes along with them.

Ah, plenty of humour here, but also frustration with the idiot Derek! (And how he treats the animals… I was right there with Mickey with regard to the annoyance/frustration on that!) Enjoyed the read about how scripted reality shows can be, too. I would actually love to read about these characters again – Mickey and Wahoo, anyway. I really liked them (and how they are with the animals). I listened to the audio narrated by James Van Der Beek, and it was done very well. ( )

Another YA winner from Hiaasen. ( )