The House of the Scorpion

nancy farmer

With undertones of vampires, Frankenstein, dragons' hoards, and killing fields, Matt's story turns out to be an inspiring tale of friendship, survival, hope, and transcendence. A must-read for teenage fantasy fans.

At his coming-of-age party, Matteo Alacrán asks El Patrón's bodyguard, "How old am I?...I know I don't have a birthday like humans, but I was born."

"You were harvested," Tam Lin reminds him. "You were grown in that poor cow for nine months and then you were cut out of her."

To most people around him, Matt is not a boy, but a beast. A room full of chicken litter with roaches for friends and old chicken bones for toys is considered good enough for him. But for El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium—a strip of poppy fields lying between the U.S. and what was once called Mexico—Matt is a guarantee of eternal life. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself for Matt is himself. They share identical DNA.

Genres young adultscience fictiondystopiafictionfantasyteenadventureschoolbook clubmiddle grade

380 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,2002

Series

Matteo Alacran

Literary awards

newbery medal, national book award, mythopoeic fantasy award, buxtehuder bulle, michael l. printz award, south carolina book award, grand canyon reader award, rhode island teen book award, vermont golden dome book award, pacific northwest library association young readers choice award, michigan library association thumbs up! award, lincoln award, gateway readers award, oklahoma sequoyah book award,

This edition

Format: 380 pages, Paperback
Published: May 1, 2004 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780689852237
ASIN: 0689852231
Language: English

Characters More characters

El Patron

The original Matteo Alacrán; a powerful 146-year-old drug lord and ruler of Opium....
Tam Lin

Bodyguard for both El Patron and Matt. One of Matts best friends.more...
Maria Mendoza

Younger daughter of Senator Mendoza, friend of Matt....
Chacho

A Lost Boy** - The Lost Boys are a group of boys whose parents were captured by the "Farm Patrol" and most likely turned into eejits. These boys are kept in Keepers compounds in Aztlán and forced to work incessantly and adhere to Marxist principles,...
Fidelito

A Lost Boy*; eight years old.* - The Lost Boys are a group of boys whose parents were captured by the "Farm Patrol" and most likely turned into eejits. These boys are kept in Keepers compounds in Aztlán and forced to work incessantly and adhere to M...
Ton-ton

A Lost Boy*; driver of the shrimp harvester. "Hes 14 years old and in charge of the biggest gang of drug dealers on the planet."* - The Lost Boys are a group of boys whose parents were captured by the "Farm Patrol" and most likely turned into eejits. Thes...

About the author

nancy farmer

Nancy was born in 1941 in Phoenix and grew up in a hotel on the Arizona-Mexico border where she worked the switchboard at the age of nine. She also found time to hang out in the old state prison and the hobo jungle along the banks of the Colorado River. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, earning her BA in 1963. Instead of taking a regular job, she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to India (1963-1965). When she returned, she moved into a commune in Berkeley, sold newspapers on the street for a while, then got a job in the Entomology department at UC Berkeley and also took courses in Chemistry there. Restless, again, she decided to visit Africa. She and a friend tried to hitchhike by boat but the ship they'd selected turned out to be stolen and was boarded by the Coast Guard just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. Nancy eventually got to Africa on a legal ship. She spent more than a year on Lake Cabora Bassa in Mozambique, monitoring water weeds. Next she was hired to help control tsetse fly in the dense bush on the banks of the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. Part of the time she spent in the capital, Harare, and was introduced to her soon-to-be husband by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. He proposed a week later. Harold and Nancy now live in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona on a major drug route for the Sinaloa Cartel. This is the setting for The Lord of Opium. They have a son, Daniel, who is in the U.S. navy.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.