The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is about a boy named Matt. He is a clone of El Patron. Matt lives in a piece of land called Opium and he is unhappy there. He is first treated like a beast. Everyone ignored him as if he was nothing but a piece of paper. Then, El Patron, a very rich and powerful man, claimed his clone. Now, everyone is terrified of Matt. But, you may think El Patron is a nice person. Think again. His slaves are illegal immigrants that become eejits, Eejits are people who’s brains are programmed to working nonstop and following orders only.
El Patron loves Matt but, when El Patron suffers from a heart attack, Matt was supposed to give El Patron his organs but, he didn’t. El Patron died at one-hundred and forty-three years old. But, before all this happens, El Patron gave Matt a bodyguard, Tam Lin. Tam Lin is one of Matt’s only friends. Matt thinks of him as a father. But when El Patron dies, Matt runs away into the wild.
He finds an orphanage and enters. The orphans are known as “Lost Boys” and they live with men known as “Keepers.” The Keepers make the orphans do much work while they sit back and have lavish meals. Matt is an outsider but, he learns to fit in. He’s never done that before! He has always been alone, no one has ever loved him, and he has never had friends because he was clone. He finds the true meaning of friendship, it’s working together and fighting for one thing you all want. But, they all get along so well, they start a rebel against the Keepers. Matt leads them free of the orphanage but, where will they go now? Will they survive on their own?

I loved The House of the Scorpion. I’d recommend it to boys and girls of ages ten and up. This story is told in third person point of view. And Matt really finds what true friendship is.

Blogged by:
Heather C.