The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good science fiction explores ideas. It’s not all zap guns and silly aliens. A good idea drives the story and questions that the central idea raises fuel the conflict. This is why I love science fiction. Unfortunately, many of the novels published as science fiction fall woefully short of this. So many in fact, that I find many of my students have a poor understanding of what science fiction should be. This leads to a phenomenon that has many English teachers scratching their heads.

Somehow The House of the Scorpion has become a common assigned text in middle school. It is true science fiction and every kid I’ve talked to, save one, has hated it. This is really too bad because it’s an excellent book. The House of the Scorpion takes on the idea of human cloning. Told from the point of view of Matt, who is the clone of a drug lord called El Patron, the story takes on the social, legal, and religious perspectives on what being a clone means.

Matt, of course, is just a kid and has no idea what he is for a large chunk of the novel. Religiously and legally, he’s considered sub-human and without a soul, but things get complicated when he, against the odds, survives his original purpose as a living source of replacement organs.

It’s all very interesting and, while not all the questions raised can be answered, the book does its job by illustrating the complexity of the issues. I’m looking forward to tracking down the sequel.


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