Logan

0-6
The novel that I am reading is called The House of Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer. In the book, the characters are in a futuristic world where opium and drug farmers rule the world. The novel takes place in a a stretch of land between Mexico and the United States of America, called Opium. Matteo Alacrán is the clone of the most wealthy and powerful drug lord in the world, also named Matteo Alacrán. The novel is split up into 4 different age groups starting with 0-6, then 7-11, then 12-14 and finishes with his adventures as a 14 year old. The novel begins with two scientists creating Matt through a special process where some of the original Matteo Alacrán's skin is put into a dish and then was put into a cow's uterus from where it starts a normal, human growth period. In this part of the novel Matt is kept with a keeper named Celia, whose is the Alacrán family's cook. They live in a small cottage outside of the estate, on the poppy fields. Everyday, Celia leaves Matt (clone) alone and works at the Alacrán's house all day. She comes back dead tired but still feeds Matt and helps him get to sleep. This shows her love and dedication for Matt, even though he is a clone and most people despise him. One day Steven, one of the sons of the Alacrán's, his friend Emilia, the daughter of a senator, and her sister, María who is around Matt's age, are walking around the fields and see Matt inside Celia's house. As they walk up to the house, you can feel Matt's tension and you know that he is extremely nervous, but also curious. The three kids try talking to Matt but he doesn't respond and just as they are about to leave, Matt does something unthinkable and smashes the window. Matt, being at such a young age, was extremely inexperienced and didn't think about the shards of glass as he jumped out of the window. As I read this part, I was extremely surprised that anyone would be so "stupid" as to do what Matt did, but then I realized that Matt was young, but was very excited that he found new people. Matt injures himself are the kids have to take him to the house to have him fixed up. Any decent person would have helped Matt, but when they arrived at the house, they found out he was a clone and through him outside, even though he was still bleeding. As I read through the rest of this part, I was "devastated" by how poorly Matt was treated in his younger life. It got so bad that the person taking care of Matt, (not Celia anymore), had him locked in a room with a foot of saw dust of the ground so that she wouldn't have to take care of him as much and his excrement and waste would move to the bottom of the sawdust as Matt moved around the room.

Logan

7-11
His saving grace is the original Matteo Alacrán. Alacrán wanted to visit Matt and he does, but when he sees the shape that Matt is in he puts a stop to it and "takes him under his wing" so to speak. What he does is have him treated better, given a body guard, and given a room to his own. Celia is also allowed to take care of him again. Matt is now 7 years old, and loves his new freedom. As I read through this part of the book, it felt good to me to see how much Matt's lifestyle has improved. It even became better then when Matt was living with Celia in their little cottage, on the poppy fields. He is allowed to walk around the big house, go wherever he choses. I loved this part of the book because, even though he didn't as many adventures, it started showing how Matt would be when he grew up. He shows signs of becoming a second Matteo Alacrán but there are also some differences between them. Matt shows signs of becoming a great musician, while Alacrán doesn't have a musical bone in his body. Matt shows compassion, kindness, empathy and everyone know that in his youth, Alacrán was a hard man who would do anything to make a lot of money. I like these differences between them because it shows that everyone is different, even if you are someones clone, and that you can change your fate if you want to. Matt would never think of doing some of the things that Alacrán has done because he is a different person then Alacrán. Every time Matt made a mistake that hurt someone, it was because he was inexperienced and misguided, not malicious like Alacrán. Matt loves Alacrán despite his faults, but Matt doesn't know the true purpose of being a clone. He thinks its because Alacrán wanted another son because his died, but really the purpose of Matt is to provide Alacrán with vital organs that he wouldn't reject so that he can live as long as he wants.

Logan

12-14, Part of 14
Matt is now 12. he is growing up to be a fine man and wants to prove to everyone that he can do whatever a real human can do. Matt has many challenges to overcome, especially his first encounter with death. One of the Alacrán's has passed away and everyone is extremely sad. At the funeral, Matt is thrown out because the priest that is there recognizes him as a clone. Matt finds this hurtful and as a reader, I side with Matt. It was not his fault that he is a clone and he is doing everything that he can to excel at everything he does so that someone other than Celia or his bodyguard or Alacrán might appreciate him. Matt understands that he is different and deals with it, but any empathetic reader would be "outraged" at how everyone treats Matt. He just wants to be liked but is shunned at every corner when he wants approval. Then, something terrible happens. Alacrán is extremely sick and almost dead. He needs a donor organs from Matt but Celia had seen this coming and had a trick up her sleeve. The vital organ that Alacrán needed most was the heart but Celia had been slowly poisoning Matt in a non-lethal way with some flowers from her garden. The poison wouldn't kill Matt because he is young and strong but it would kill Alacrán if he decided to take his heart. This was a surprise to everyone in the book as well as the reader, me. As I read this, I felt relieved and worried at the same time. Matt's organs wouldn't be "harvested" but how would the other Alacráns react to this? Even if Alacrán dies, they would probably kill Matt anyways, and probably kill Celia as well for mutiny. That's not how it played out, though. Matt's bodyguard gave him the chance to escape to Aztlán, Mexico to search for María's mother, Esperanza, who is against all that Opium is for and can help Matt destroy it.

Logan

Rest of 14

On Matt's way to find Esperanza, Matt is faced with several different challenges. The first is to get to the border of Aztlán and find a way past the "Farm Patrol," who were hired by the Opium farmers to catch any refugees or anyone who tries to go from the U.S to Mexico or vice versa. In the novel, Matt is about to be trapped by the Farm Patrol and just barely gets away, but is then taken in by caretakers who take care of kids who lost their parents to the Farm Patrol. As I read the passage about Matt's narrow escape, I found I was really rooting for Matt to get away and find Esperanza. The author, Nancy Farmer, did a great job of describing character's thoughts and feelings, which led to me, as the reader, to get emotionally attached to some of the characters in the book, especially Matt. When Matt finally got away from the caretakers, (who are almost like prison guards), he had to travel into the heart of Aztlán to find Esperanza. It takes a while and is a hard journey, but Matt pushes on with the help of a couple of the orphans that came with Matt away from the caretakers and finds Esperanza. Throughout Matt's journey in this part of the book, Matt started showing signs that he was going to turn into a good man, by bringing along a few of the other orphans, and he showed that he was courageous, smart, loyal, and a little bit stubborn. I had a great time reading this book and I feel as though I could read this book again and again and still enjoy it as much as I did this time. I think that anyone who loves an easy read and loves action, adventure, and a little bit of comedy and romance, would love this book just as much as I did.