Hoover Porterhouse the Third

Hoover Porterhouse the Third, the "Hoove" for short, is a character created collaboratively by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. Hoover is featured in all four /Ghost Buddy/ books, playing the role of Billy Broccoli's personal advisor.

Hoover Porterhouse the Third is a thin, Caucasian male with dark eyes and hair. This fourteen year old is forever dressed in a pair of half-laced work boots, cream and tan diamond-patterned socks, loose brown pants stopping at the knees, faded red suspenders over a buttoned shirt, and a wool newsboy cap.

Hoover has a rather arrogant personality, being very self-confident and not the least bit shy about it. Along with those traits, he is stubborn, a complainer, and easily gives up on himself when his 'assignment' fails him, or vice versa- which it is most often the latter. Hoover repeatedly refers to his style, swagger, and moves, and is particularly proud of his turkey-trot. He also enjoys causing mischief among those who annoy him- including Breeze, Billy's stepsister, and Rod Brownstone, Moorpark Middle School bully, who lives next door to Billy. Even with those attributes, the Hoove has proven himself to be a loyal friend, and the cool kid (so he keeps saying).

Hoover Porterhouse the Third was born in 1899, and died in 1913, (the previous and following dates, excluding 99 years, are never clearly stated in any of the books- they were found via brief calculations) thus acting in the /Ghost Buddy/, as the ghost buddy. The events in the four /Ghost Buddy/ books occur in the time of three months (never specifically stated, but adding up the several times Winkler and Oliver mention weeks, it amounts to approximately this) at the beginning of a school year (assumably August-October) in the year 2012 (technology in story and time published implies), 99 years after Hoover's death. It is strongly implied Hoover died in a car crash. Georgie Cooperston, a boy Hoover's age, and Hoover Porterhouse (the actual driver is unknown) were driving Senior Cooperston's Model-T around the Porterhouse orange grove, without Senior Cooperston's permission or knowledge, and crashed it. Hoover assumably sustained fatal injuries, and Georgie survived. Hoover states Georgie went on to become a broom salesman, as the Hoove mentions becoming a ghost.

Little is known about Hoover, besides what he personally discloses, including his death, and the fact he owned a pet goat named Penelope. He also mentions having a cousin named Annabelle, who was bitten by a horse pulling an ice wagon, and Hoover boasts that he was very good at baseball. Good enough, he claimed, that he was close to the majors.