The book Hoot is fairly simple in terms of setting. The story takes place in a small Florida town, and within that town a few locations become repeated setting locations. Those locations are Roy's home, school, the school bus, and the construction site for the new pancake house.
Chapter 1 takes place on the school bus. It's an effective location to introduce readers to Roy and Dana. It also allows the author to have Dana smash Roy's face against a window and see a strange running boy.
Chapter 2 begins on the bus. Readers get a repeat of Dana's bullying, but this time Roy punches Dana in the face in order to chase after the boy. The chase moves onto a golf course, and Roy is hit in the head with a golf ball. The story picks up at school. The return to school is important because readers are introduced to Beatrice Leap, who is strangely protective of the mysterious running boy.
Chapter 3 has two settings. The first is Roy's house. All this does is introduce readers to his parents. The second location is the construction site. It will become a key location as the story continues. In this chapter, it only introduces readers to the fact that there is ongoing vandalism there.
Chapter 4 is mainly at the construction site. Delinko falls asleep in his squad car, which is important because it allows his car to be vandalized.
Chapter 5's setting is near the construction site. The impact on plot at this location is that Roy finally gets to meet the mysterious boy. His name is Mullet Fingers.
Chapter 6 is all over the place. Parts of it are at Roy's home. Other parts at the police station, Roy's school, the golf course, and the construction site area. In terms of plot, not much actually happens during this chapter. The police station is important because Delinko is confined to desk duty for a month. The construction site is important because Roy is attempting to bring Mullet Fingers some shoes, but instead his bike gets stolen by Beatrice.
Chapter 7's key location is a junkyard. It's important to the plot because it gives Beatrice the privacy to tell Roy that Mullet Fingers is her brother and that's why she is so protective of him.
Chapter 8 returns to the construction site because readers are told that Curly is trying to secure the site against further vandalism. He does this by bringing in four Rottweilers.
Chapter 9 is basically a straight continuation of chapter 8. Most of the action takes place at the construction site. All of the dogs have run off because snakes have been found on the property. The plot result is that Chuck is further enraged and orders bulldozing to begin immediately.
Chapter 10's setting is en route to the construction site. Along the way, Beatrice tells Roy a bit more about Mullet Fingers and her family situation. Once at the construction site, an important plot detail is finally revealed. Mullet Fingers is trying to stop construction in order to protect some owls.
Chapter 11 continues at the construction site. In terms of plot, the most important thing that happens here during this chapter is that Mullet Fingers is not doing well after getting bit by one of the dogs. He's in such bad shape that Roy and Beatrice are forced to take him to the hospital.
Chapter 12 is at a new location for the story. It takes place at the hospital. Mullet Fingers tells the hospital that he is Roy, and Roy's parents are contacted and come to the hospital. This forces Mullet Fingers to flee, and Roy is left trying to explain his way out of the situation.
Chapter 13 is back at Roy's house. The most important plot point for this chapter is that Roy explains almost the entire situation to his dad. His dad says that he'll help look into the situation, but readers aren't sure anything will actually come of it.
Chapter 14 takes place at an old shipwrecked stone-crab boat. This again is one of those chapters where not much actually happens, but it’s a critical chapter in terms of character development. Roy and Mullet Fingers spend most of the time talking to each other about the construction and the owls, and the result is that the two boys bond and become closer friends.
Chapter 15 is a chase sequence. It begins at Dana’s house and ends at the construction site. Roy successfully lures Dana to the site, and Dana winds up getting arrested and accused of being the vandal. This removes the Dana conflict for the remainder of the book.
The bulk of chapter 16 takes place at Roy’s house. He hears about Dana’s arrest. His father gives him some advice on where to look for legal documentation that can stop the construction project. It appears that Roy’s father has been giving the matter some serious thought, and it looks like Roy just might wind up being successful in trying to stop the construction.
Chapter 17 has two key locations. The first is the police station. This location is important to the plot because it shows readers that Delinko doesn’t believe that Dana is the vandal. The other location is the construction site. Curly is told by Chuck that the groundbreaking ceremony will begin on Wednesday. This will force Beatrice, Roy, and Mullet Fingers to do some fast thinking and acting.
Chapter 18 begins at the construction site. The importance of the location is that Delinko finally realizes that there are owls present. The chapter then moves to school, and readers are told that Roy brainstorms a way to stop the construction. Finally, back at the junkyard, Mullet Fingers listens to Roy’s plan. It isn’t clear if Mullet Fingers will work the plan or not.
Chapter 19 is mostly at the construction site. Nothing happens other than Chuck and the other important construction people showing up for the groundbreaking ceremony.
Chapter 20 is at the construction site. This is the climax of the plot. The owl evidence is presented. Chuck is enraged, and the crowd begins to support the heroic efforts of Roy, Beatrice, and Mullet Fingers.
Chapter 21 is the falling action and takes place at Roy’s house. It’s during this chapter that Roy gives a reporter the legal documentation that proves that the construction company intentionally overlooked the presence of the owls. This leads to the conclusion: Chuck is forced to resign and the pancake company attempts to clean up their image by donating a bunch of money. Roy is glad to be in Florida and readers are presented with a nice tidy wrap-up to the story.
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