Setting "The House of the Scorpion"

 The setting for The House of the Scorpion is set in the future because of the technologies that they have to clone people. Even though we are able to clone people, it is illegal and we haven't actually tried it on humans (from what I know). It takes place in poppy fields with a giant mansion on one end of the fields and a small little apartment like home on the other end. It does not specifically say the location but it is in a place called Opium, Which on my research says that it in Arizona but in the book I feel that it is its whole new country and does not actually take place in the United States. The picture to the left is a bit of a stretch from what I think the actual setting looks like but it does give you a little bit of a image of what the poppy fields and the small house looks like, it however does not show the mansion. Please ignore the human bunny, skeletons, and skeleton butterflies.

Reading Skills "The House of the Scorpion"

I am at a point in the book where I have a lot of questions. But first let me get you caught up on whats happening. Another Matteo Alacran, much older than the main character Matteo Alacran (The both have the same name) was introduced. He is the person that Matt is a clone of and is very high up in the social ladder. He found out how they were treating Matt and got very very upset. So my questions are why do they have clones? Why are they treated very poorly? The book states that Matt is a "special" clone and did not get his brain taken out like the rest. Why him? Why do they take the brains out and make them stupid? Why did the older Matteo Alacran need a clone? My prediction for this question is that once the older Matt dies, then the clone Matt will need to take his place in whatever important job he has ( I do not know what it is). I have tons of questions and hopefully they will be answered as  I get more into the book. Moving on to Connections; This book allows me to relate to science class in eighth grade where we learned about clones and what they are.This book also allows me to relate to the TV show Futerama where it is in the future and has a advanced clone technology kind of feel just like The House of the Scorpion. A text to world connection is that to this day we have been cloning fruits and vegetables and even have the technology to clone humans even though we don't. Probably because its illegal. 

1st Conflict Prompt "The House of the Scorpion"

I have gotten far enough into the book "The House of the Scorpion" that I am beginning to get a slight glimpse at the conflict that I think is arising in the story. Matt, the main character, is a clone and in the book they call him "The beast" and lock him in a small room for days. Then the doctor says he needs to remain healthy. He has "Property of the Alacran State" written on his foot, therefore i believe he is the conflict in the book. The summary on the back says Matt will be in a fight for his life and considering he is a clone and everyone thinks he is a beast, that is going to play a huge role in the conflict of the story. With him fighting for his life against the people of the Alacran state, that is what i believe the conflict will be throughout most of the story. I am not that far into the book but once I have more details on the conflict of the story I will create another conflict post.

Character Prompt "The House of the Scorpion"

I've just started the book The House of the Scorpion not too long ago and I love it! I have been introduced to one character that I feel is the main character. His name is Matt. He is a six year old boy in the part that I am in right now. But at the beginning of the book it shows chapters and it says that he will go from zero years old to fourteen years old. Matt is a clone and is being loaned to Celia, a servant of the Alacran family. He is made for the Alacran family , a rich family, and is property of them and everyone says that he is a beast and treat him very poorly. He seems to me like a very normal boy but obviously the characters in the book feel differently. He talks like a normal person, looks like a normal person, and acts like a normal person. He left his little house in the poppy fields that he was locked up in and now lives in a small dark room in the Alacran house with sawdust all over and is treated like a dog. That is a description of the first main character Matt. Full name: Matteo Alacran.

What I am reading This Tri.

 I chose to read The House of the Scorpion because of the summary that I read on the back. My mom had showed me this book and I denied wanting to read it because i saw the word scorpion and just said no, but after reading the summary when i was bored, I got very interested. Last year we learned about test tube babies in science class which is what this book is about. There also seems to be action involved because the summary states that the main character Matt is threatened, surrounded, and must escape. This seems very interesting and hopfully I wont get bored which is what happens with most books for me.

I also decided to read this book because of the amount of awards that it has on the cover. It got the National Book Award, The Newbery Honor Award, and the Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. The author Nancy Farmer has three Newbery Honor books so obviously she writes very good books. This book being one of them, that is why I want to read it. Lastly, I decided to read this book because of the color of the cover. I like red and the cover of this book pops out and intrigued me. It’s very thick and has small words which I do not enjoy, but I feel that my eager to read this book overpowers that. I can’t wait to read this book!