Panther

Blurb

Scat is a teenage novel by Carl Hiaasen, published in 2009. Scat tells the mystery of a missing teacher named Mrs. Bunny Starch, and how two of her students, Nick Waters and Marta Gonzalez, do everything they can to find her. The book is available in over 1,000 libraries. Carl Hiaasen is the author of other notable children's fiction novels including Flush, in over 2,500 libraries, and Hoot, in over 3,200 libraries.
A main plot of the book features the endangered Florida Panther.
The book starts in a biology class. The teacher, Mrs. Starch, asks a question about the Calvin cycle, which no one except a girl named Libby is able to answer. Mrs. Starch is known to be very strict and harsh. She calls upon Duane "Smoke" Scrod Jr. to answer the question, who nonchalantly eats part of the pencil Mrs. Starch holds. As a result, he is assigned a 500 word essay on acne. The next day, the students go on a field trip to Black Vine Swamp. While there, two students, Nick and Marta take a recording on a video camera when they hear a sound. A wildfire starts and Mrs. Starch goes in to get Libby's asthma medicine. No one sees Mrs. Starch the next day, and some detectives interview the students.