The House of the Scorpion
The House of the Scorpion
By Nancy Farmer
Reading Level
Lexile: 660
Length
400 Pages (Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (May 1, 2004))
Representation
The House of the Scorpion imagines that the governments of the United States and Mexico have failed to control the drug trade and that a new country, Opium, has been created by drug lords in the land that was once their border. The culture of the characters in the book is a blend of American and Mexican cultures, as imagined by the author, who is white.
Appropriate Content
Some of our partner organizations were concerned that The House of the Scorpion is a book about the son of a drug lord. However, the focus of the story is not on the drug trade, which is consistently portrayed in a negative light. There is some physical and emotional violence in this book, but none of it is graphic. The publisher (Simon and Schuster) recommends the book for students age 12+. Common Sense Media recommends the book for students age 11+. You can read the Common Sense Media review here.
Engagement
The House of the Scorpion is one of the longest and slowest paced books we have read for a book club. Students who were invested in reading the book loved it, but many found it a challenge to finish. You can read the first chapter on the NPR website.
Substance
The House of the Scorpion raises issues of cloning, good and evil and the ways that power can be abused.
Summary
Summary provided by the author, Nancy Farmer
Between the U.S.A. and Aztlán (once called Mexico) lies a strip of land, known as Opium, the name of its chief product. It is ruled by a 146-year-old drug lord known as El Patrón. His fields are tilled by illegal immigrants, called "eejits," who have computer chips implanted in their brains so that they can be kept in slavery. Matt, a boy who is confined in a cottage on El Patrón estate, manages to break out, only to find himself treated like an animal. Eventually he learns why. The tattoo on his foot, "Property of Alacrán Estates," means that he is a clone of El Patrón--and that he is being raised to provide spare body parts for his original. With the aid of Tam Lin, his bodyguard, Matt escapes from Opium but that is not the end of his troubles. He is imprisoned in a brutal labor camp for orphaned boys in Aztlán and leads a rebellion to rescue not only himself, but the other "Lost Boys."
Book Club Materials
The House of the Scorpion: Promotional Poster
The House of the Scorpion: Guided Reading Calendar
The House of the Scorpion: Book Club Agenda
The House of the Scorpion: Put it in Order Game
The House of The Scorpion: Discussion Questions
The House of the Scorpion: Student Generated Discussion Questions
The House of the Scorpion: Scholastic Guide