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Book Review: Stormbreaker, by Anthony Horowitz

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stormbreakerAlex Rider’s story begins with a perfect life. Alex is a regular boy who is 14 years old. One night he is awoken by the chime of a doorbell and overhears that his uncle died mysteriously in a car crash. But the weird thing is that the cops were saying he was not wearing his seat belt. His uncle always enforced the rule that no matter what, you have to wear your seatbelt to Alex, and he always followed that rule too. Alex didn’t have enough information to believe the cops.

Alex decides to investigate and discovers that it wasn’t a car crash that killed his uncle– it was murder. At the car dump, he finds that one bullet from a sniper made a crisp circular hole in the glass window. An attempt on his own life kicks off the beginning of Alex’s adventures, and things really get complicated when he learns that his uncle was an MI6 agent– and he must get involved too.

I personally would recommend that this book should be read only if you are older than 12 years old. The reason why is that there is a little bit of violence it the book. Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz is a great read!

-Satej B., 7th grade

Book Review: Marie, Dancing, by Carolyn Meyer

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marie_dancing_coverThis book review is part of series of reviews written by students at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School for their 7th grade English classes.

Have you ever wondered what goes through a ballerina’s mind when she dances?

What could she possibly be thinking about as she takes the audience’s breath away? The spotlight is on her, her and nothing else. For a few seconds, minutes or even hours, it’s as if nothing else exists in the world while dancing. Dancers learn to hide their emotions on stage. You can’t show nervousness, fear, or any type of imbalance. You have to keep tempo, stay with the music, and perform the grand jetés, fouettés, and combinations that you practiced so hard to be able to do. Nothing else matters.

The amazing story of Marie, Dancing is an excellent book written by Carolyn Meyer because of her descriptive language and engaging plot. Meyer has also written Doomed Queen Anne, Jubilee Journey, White Lilacs, and many more. This is another one of her great books that teaches perseverance, honesty, and passion. These were the three most common lessons I found throughout the book.

Marie, Dancing takes place in beautiful Paris, France, mainly around the Seine River at her ballet school called the Paris Opera. The story is revolved around a sculpture called The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen, which is actually in the Louvre today sculpted by Edgar Degas. This is what makes this story unique because it is revolved around a sculpture, unlike many stories.

Marie’s goal is to become a famous dancer, but she has a lot of hardships and set backs such as living in poverty and issues with her family. She is in intense ballet training while a world renowned artist; Edgar Degas offers her a job to pose for his new sculpture. Edgar Degas is a bitter and cold man, but an amazing artist: “He didn’t wait for me to reply or to change my clothes but simply walked off, motioning me to follow his command” (4). She agrees, and every week for one year she went to his studio and posed for him. This helped her get a little closer to her dream of stardom. Meanwhile, she has big ballet examinations coming up to determine if she gets to say at the Paris Opera Ballet School. Her older sister ends up in prison for three months, and she is risking her practice time for the examinations by visiting her troubled sister. Will she get that dream of stardom that she is desperate to have? Will she ever dance again? Will she ever forgive her sister for what she has done?

One of the obvious reasons I love this book is because of the main character, Marie. She is an example of a 14 year old dancer in the 1880s who lives deeply in poverty, but has a huge passion for what she does. Three words to describe her are determined, helpful, and kind. I would say that she is determined because she really wants to become a famous dancer, and trains every moment she has. Marie is also helpful because she basically raises her 10 year old sister Charlotte while her mother is off drinking, and her oldest sister is very selfish. She gets payed by Edgar Degas to model, and she uses the money to pay off the rent on their house. “I reached Rue de Douai and climbed the dimly lit and rank smelling stairs” (137). Lastly, I found that Marie is kind. One of the reasons why she is kind is because when her older sister was in prison, she risked her ballet career just to go give her scraps of food.

This book also kept me engaged because I really like how the author wrote very descriptively, and it was easier to paint a picture of the setting and imagine the the plot in my mind. I would recommend this book to middle school students. Although, this book got off to a slow start, it eventually went by faster and it was very enjoyable to read. Overall, this is a book that I would definitely recommend.

-Valentina M., 7th grade

Book Review: Pawn of Prophecy, by David Eddings

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Even though some books haven’t been turned into movies, they may actually be very good books. David Eddings wrote books that never would be movies, yet those books have attracted readers ever since the 1970s with their comedy, romance, adventure, and magic.

Pawn of Prophecy is the first book that attracted those readers. In the book, the Orb of Aldur, a jewel created by a god that can do almost anything, is a key item. Torak, the evil god of the Agnaraks, would do anything do get that jewel, yet it would burn anyone except one pure of heart. However, Torak is dead, killed by the Rivan ruler, who was led by Belgarath the sorcerer and Polgara the sorceress. Yet prophecies still say that if the Orb was taken from Riva, then disaster may follow, which wasn’t much of a problem because even though the Rivan line has been dead for centuries, a substitute has been preserving the throne.

Garion has heard these legends ever since he was a boy. However, even though all the legends contained magic, he had never seen it, since Sendaria was the only place that had no central god, a kingdom with mixed cultures. Even so, he couldn’t expect much from it.

But when an old and fantastic storyteller comes back to Faldor’s Farm, Garion’s home, after five years of absence with news of something being stolen, Garion, his aunt Pol, and a couple of others have to embark on a journey across the western world, encountering monsters, kings, romance, adventure, magic and much more!

Yet even though Garion is fourteen, he doesn’t know what’s going on, and nobody, not even the voice inside his head with a mind of his own, would tell him what’s going on. For Garion’s destiny has brought himself into a conflict so deep that even if he returns to Faldor’s Farm, he would never be normal ever again. I would give this book the highest rating ever known. Eddings is famous for:

  •  his spectacular comedy
  • the fantastic/comical “why me?” statement, which is said by the main character a lot, the main woman character who’s very motherly
  • the realistic details
  • and the fact that he made the adventure scenes very intriguing.

In the end, I couldn’t relax and put the book down until I read the last the last page of the last book. Eddings really put his mind into his books,  and wanted to make sure that kids have fun reading. However, readers should note that the prologues are big spoilers, some people die, and there is quite a bit of romance.

I would recommend this book to fans of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, since it’s set in a medieval sort of world with the different kingdoms, with the fantasy elements of gods and sorcerers. The age appropriate group would be any teenager, and maybe a few preteens.

In conclusion, it’s safe to say that books that haven’t been turned into movies aren’t always bad, just different.

Megan V., 8th grade

Book Review: The Gallagher Girls Series, by Ally Carter

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gallagher_girls1This addicting, action-packed series follows Cameron “Cammie” Ann Morgan, a sophomore at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. The Gallagher Academy’s reputation is primly negative, and the neighboring inhabitants of Roseville, Virginia view it as a school for “rich, snotty heiresses.” However, the students are actually spies-in-training, the next generation of agents who hope to be employed by the CIA post high school graduation.

Book One: I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You
While on a mission for her Covert Operations class, Cammie meets Josh Abrams, a normal, typical boy, who sees her, despite her rank of being a great ‘pavement artist’ and her distinctive aim to stay in the shadows. Cammie is known as the “Chameleon,” because she is average- not too tall, not too short, not too chubby, not too thin, not too anything- so she is able to blend in among a crowd of people, and specializes in tailing her subjects while under cover. With the help of her best friends, Liz Sutton and Bex Baxter, and her roommate, Macey McHenry, along with some brilliant heists and ingenious exaggerations of the truth, Cammie is able to develop a steady relationship with Josh, and sneaks out– using the school’s newfound secret passageways that only she knows about (being the headmistress’s daughter and all)– to see him on a regular basis throughout the school year. She revels in his normalcy and takes comfort in his regular teen dilemmas; I believe this is a big part of why she likes him: when she is with him, she is able to become someone she’s not, and abandon the careful, restless side of her that has been trained to constantly watch her back. However, things soon get complicated, as Cammie is forced to lie endlessly (and flawlessly) to keep her cover as a rich schoolgirl, and she soon learns that normal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Book Two: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

After the whole Josh-inspired mishap, Cammie returns to Gallagher Academy for her junior year of high school, only to find that the East Wing is strictly off-limits. During CoveOps the next day, the class is blindfolded and transported to the National Mall, where they are told to blend in and instructed to meet at the ruby slippers exhibit by a given time, practicing counter-surveillance. Only one girl in the class succeeds in doing this; Cammie fails when she is followed by Zach, whom she believed to be an innocently ignorant teenage boy, follows her from the elevator. Later, Cammie’s mom, Headmistress Morgan, announces that fifteen boys- Zach being one of them- from Blackthorne Institute for Troubled Young Men (Cammie concludes this is a cover, and they are also spies in disguise) will be staying at the Gallagher Academy for an unknown duration of time, in a sort of “one-way exchange program.” Cammie and her roommates view the boys as suspicious targets and decide to investigate, but the carefully-placed listening devices in their bedrooms, and the trackers in their shoes don’t prove useful. Zach always seems to constantly hang around Cammie, who doesn’t know whether to consider him infuriating or endearing, and ends up settling with annoying. When he asks her on a study date, she almost says no, but then uses it as an excuse to get information from him about his school, and his past. When the Gallagher Academy’s cover almost gets blown, and is in danger of being released, the girls- and the boys!- must work to make sure that their identities stay secret, no matter what the cost.

Book Three: Don’t Judge a Girl By Her Cover

When Macey invites Cammie to stay with her in Boston over summer break, Cammie accepts, and looks forward to watching Macey’s father accept his nomination for Vice President of the United States. But Cammie and Macey lead dangerous and twisted lives, and they soon find themselves victims of an attempted kidnapping. But luckily their in-depth training and fantastic espionage skills kick in, and they manage to escape along with Preston, the son of the soon-to-be President of the U.S. As their junior year begins, Cammie has a hard time focusing on her studies, and Gallagher Academy doesn’t feel like the safe sanctuary she once believed it to be. In addition, Zach is starting to make a habit of showing up at dangerous points in Cammie’s life. Coincidence? Or is he a piece of the puzzle? Cammie (Codename: Chameleon), Macey (Peacock), Bex (Duchess), and Liz (Bookworm) must dig up their field devices once again and harness their talents of espionage in order to discover who is out to get Macey and why, in this extraordinary novel of friendship, romance, and family. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To, by DC Pierson

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boy_who_coverThis book review is part of series of reviews written by students at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School for their 7th grade English classes.

High school is a crazy place! The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To, a book written by DC Pierson, an author and comedian, talks all about the life of two social outcasts living throughout high school. DC Pierson uses a lot of descriptive words in his book, and with these words he shapes the somewhat normal story into an amazing tale. This book kept me on my toes, pulling out interesting ideas one after another. I did not get bored, because of all the exciting places this book leads me to. The book ventures into things such as mutations, into art, and finally into revenge. I loved all of the twists and turns.

The setting of this book takes place in a high school on the East Coast. There are two kids, Darren and Eric, who are social outcasts, just trying to get through high school, but Eric has a deep dark secret. The book starts off slow as Darren just goes through his life, and then it starts picking up the pace. It goes from multiple days of nothing going on to conflict everywhere you go! This book kept my attention more than most books i have read, and it would most likely do the same to you.

Darren Bennett was a very boring, scrawny, and unnoticeable kid from his high school. He never liked talking to other people, and would rather stay home then go to parties. He enjoys drawing, and started making a graphic novel/mini movie out of these drawings he has. He hates when people ask things about him, and just hates high school in general.

Eric Lederer, a nerdy and weird kid, came to talk to Darren one day while he was drawing. Once they started discussing, Darren “noticed something strange about this kid.” It may have been the way he was standing, but there was something truly weird about him. Eric is an exceptional student who would turn projects in days earlier before they were due, and would get straight A’s. After Eric and Darren become best friends, they work on a graphic novel together for about 6 months. After a while Eric opens the lock containing his secret, and his secret was he can’t sleep, and never has. There is one side effect of this secret… Eric has concentrated bursts of hallucinations every 3 weeks or so. Eric’s secret, if been told to the wrong people, could cause Eric to be tested on by the government.

Christine is a drama geek, who just loves drama and theatre above anything else in the world. Christine meets Darren and invited him to a party. Christine and Darren started hanging out a lot, and eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend. Once Christine comes to Darren crying about how her drama show has been cancelled, and he disappointed her by not quite being support. After Darren was proven to be difficult to understand, she went to talk to Eric. She and Eric became amazingly good friends, and instead of just going on dates with Darren, she started inviting Eric to them as well. One day, Christine goes to Eric’s house, and he was having a hallucination. Their interest within each other increasingly grew, until Christine dumped Darren for Eric.

Darren gets really furious, and thinks of nothing else but how to get back at Eric. Darren finally finds out a way to get even by telling his local church’s priest Eric’s secret. A couple days pass then a mysterious man shows up at their high school searching for Eric, forcing Eric to go into hiding. Eric sincerely apologized to Darren, by breaking up with Christine. So Darren helped Eric in his quest to elude the mysterious man.

What I like about this novel is that it keeps my attention up, through all the conflict and all the secrets. There are many corners to turn with much more pleasure after each one. What I did in fact dislike about this novel is all of the cursing, and drug use. I would recommend this book if you are into books with adventures, but I would not recommend this if you are below 15 years of age because of all the mature content.

-Leo K., 7th grade

Book Review: The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

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maze_runner_coverThe Maze Runner is a dystopian science fiction novel by James Dashner.

The setting of the book is an actual navigable maze and a group of boys live together in the middle of it. These boys are called Gladers and they have learnt how to work with each other to survive in midst of it. A new boy arrives on the same day of every month through the Box.

One day a boy named Thomas comes, and nobody is alarmed– but after he arrives, many uncanny things start to happen. The next day a girl, who was in a coma, arrives. The two weird things about that were: first, she was a girl and second, the next kid to arrive was supposed to come a month later than Thomas. The next odd event was that the supplies that came weekly stopped coming. People starting suspecting that Thomas was somehow responsible, and he had no clue on how it all happened. The Doors normally closed every night, around the boys’ enclosure to protect them from Grievers, a nocturnal horrible creatures that lived in maze, but after Thomas’s arrival the doors stopped closing at night. After that, Thomas was determined to find a way out of there.

Read the rest of the book to find out if they make it out or not. I enjoyed reading the book and the characters were very interesting. The setting was a bit unusual, but it turned out to be a fine book. The ending was not that good as I was expecting. The action in the beginning of the book was excellent, but sort of fell towards the end.  Otherwise, it was a great book. The Maze Runner perfect for middle and high school students. If you read The Maze Runner and enjoyed it, be sure to look for the next book in the series, The Scorch Trials.

-Anmol K., 6th grade

Book Review: Fifteen Love, by Robert Corbet

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15love_coverThis book review is part of series of reviews written by students at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School for their 7th grade English classes.

My review on this book is not a good one. I did not enjoy this book literally at all; it was very anti-climactic despite all of the problems that occurred in the story. The writing really did not make me excited. The author Robert Corbet failed to interest me in any way. This story fell flat for me from the anti-climactic problems like this one, “Will Holland is a Mystery” (10). Well, this mystery was easily solved considering that Will Holland is one of the main characters. The reason I didn’t enjoy this book may be that I don’t enjoy love stories very much and I wanted to try something new. My opinion of this book is very bad.

Will Holland; this is one of the three main characters in this story. Will Holland is helplessly in love with a girl named Mia Foley one of the other main characters. The problem is that Mia isn’t in love with Will at all. In fact in the beginning she is repulsed with him. Will always second guesses himself and is so self-conscious that he doesn’t talk to her. This plot is just like any other love story- it is all too predictable. Will was my favorite character because he played tennis, which was the passion I chose. I thought it was interesting how he connected real life problems to tennis. He analyzed everything he did in such depth and I could really relate to him because I also over analyze things. This story is integrated with his tennis and his love life. I really enjoyed the tennis aspect of the story but the main lovey-dovey part of the story did not interest me at all. Will has a brother who is disabled and he has to deal with him every single day. In the story the way he handles all of his brother’s problems is very unrealistic and actually quite sad. He treats his brother like garbage- it makes made me very uncomfortable and I didn’t really like that aspect of this story. Overall Will Holland is the reason why I continued to read this book. His life just seemed so relatable to mine.

Mia Folly in the end falls in love with Will Holland and just like almost every single love story ever this made the whole thing very boring. Mia Folly is just like every single stereotypical girl in a love story: popular, pretty, and very vain. The whole entire story she is saying, “I’m ugly I’m fat oh my gosh.” I really did not enjoy this character. All she did was complain. She and her friend got in a fight and she acted like the whole entire world was going to end. She was a very frustrating character and I didn’t like her presence in the story. She also showed some selfless acts throughout the story she would talk to Will and she would actually do some very kind things in the story. One thing that I liked about the authors writing was how he demonstrated how she started to like will more and more as the story came to an end. Mia was a very self-centered character but the story needed her drama.

Vanessa is the last main character in the story. She was Mia’s best friend until they started fighting. She is a very confident, boastful girl she thinks that she is better than everybody. She is a very annoying character and whenever they even mention her name in the story I cringe. “Oh yeah by the way Raneeta left already” (97). The way she says this is just so obtuse, I cant believe that this is the way that she would give Mia the news that her friend had left her. The way she acts is evil- she feels like a lethal poison being injected into my veins. Whenever she speaks I just get frustrated. I really do not enjoy her presence in the story. She ruins everything in the story– she makes Molly depressed, she starts to date Will just to spite Molly, she is a huge pessimist and I really do not like her presence in this story. Just right when you think Will and Mia are going to go out, she always messes everything up she was by far my least favorite character.

Fifteen Love was filled with cheap thrills and a bad plot. Every page I read became more painful. From the characters to the plotline, it was not the best writing. You may think that I am being too negative but honestly this is what I think about this book. I would not recommend this book to any reader of my age group. I thought it was poorly written and filled with uninteresting events that always fell flat. In other words, I did not love the book Fifteen Love.

-Caden S., 7th grade

Book Review: Home of the Braves, by David Klass

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home_braves_coverThis book review is part of series of reviews written by students at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School for their 7th grade English classes.

David Klass, renowned author and screenwriter, has written multiple books specifically for young adults. He specializes in creating teenage characters that are searching for answers on difficult issues relating to pressures of society and individual worth. He brings his characters alive and you are drawn into their troubles along with them. If you are looking for a book that dives into the reality of teenage life at high school, Home of the Braves by David Klass is the book for you.

Bullies, jocks versus nerds, first crushes and figuring out who you really are fill this novel with multiple themes. Joe Brickman, the main character, attends Lawndale High School in a typical New Jersey town. As captain of the soccer and wrestling team during his senior year, Joe feels that this is the year to make a statement. He is the starting sweeper of the Varsity soccer team and he finally feels ready to ask out his closest friend, Kris. Things begin to crumple all around when Antonio Silva arrives as a transfer student from Brazil and brings about conflict and anger in Joe and the school.

Tension starts early between Joe and Antonio when Antonio and Kris start going out. This is Joe’s best friend, and “the thought of the two of them together was killing [him]” (71), especially since he was finally getting up the nerve to ask Kris out himself. To make matters ever worse, Joe’s coach asks Joe to have Antonio be co-captain of the soccer team. Joe is furious with his coach’s recommendation, since he has worked so long to achieve the captain’s armband, and Antonio could receive it so quickly. Joe feels threatened and angry, “The day he puts on a captain’s armband is the day I take mine off” (160), and then he walks away. Joe’s negative feelings for Antonio keep increasing, and Klass does a superb job of delving into Joe’s thoughts and feelings on the matter.

In addition, not only is Antonio making Joe frustrated, but he is also causing internal conflict within the school. There is an agreement between the students at Lawndale High School that they must “bow down” to the football jocks, who control the school. Both Ed “he mouse,” Joe’s best friend, and Antonio refuse to obey this “rule.” This causes the Jocks to take action and violence erupts at the school. The Administration then enacts a “Zero Tolerance” policy at the school, which frustrates and angers many of the students.

Finally, things start to look up for both Joe and the school when their soccer team makes the play-offs. Antonio has been a key player in bringing the school team so far and many are ready to forget the past. However, at the last minute, a twist in the plot occurs and things change dramatically. You will have to read the book to see how it ends.

Home of the Braves keeps the reader engaged throughout the entire novel. It is a well-written book with suspense, violence, and romantic drama that appeals to numerous age levels. I would recommend this book for middle school and high school aged students who are looking for an action packed book.

-Chase R., 7th grade

Book Review: Airman, by Eoin Colfer

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airman_coverThis book review is part of series of reviews written by students at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School for their 7th grade English classes.

Have you ever wanted to fly like a bird? If you read Airman your wishes will be granted. Eoin Colfer so vividly describes the feeling of flight through the air, you will feel like you are right there next to Conor as he soars through the night air; in his dreams and his future. This amazing author first became known through the best-selling Artemis Fowl series, which fame cast his other books into the shadows. It was left for the chosen few to find that hidden jewel, Airman.

I really enjoyed reading the book because it revolves around one boy split in two, so it is like reading about two different characters. First we follow brilliant young Conor Broekhart as he trains with his French mentor to gain mastery  in academics including extracurricular such as swordsmanship, but mainly aviation. “Conor was born to fly, or more accurately, was born flying” (7). His obsession took root at the very moment he was born, more than a hundred feet off the ground in a quickly plummeting hot air balloon. Conor starts off life like this, but after being falsely accused for a crime he did not commit, he becomes someone else.

Conor Broekhart becomes Conor Finn. A pirate criminal who has no family, friends, or anyone to love. He has nothing to hope for but being top dog in the insanity ward. His many trials as Conor Finn include staying alive from Otto Malarkey’s daily beatings, stashing the diamonds he is mining away from the guards, and escaping from the Little Saltee, a heartless rock-hewned jail. “Right was Great Saltee, wrong was Little Saltee(44).”

Conor Finn’s new closest, and only, friend and mentor on Little Saltee is a blind musician, Linus Wynter, who is also my favorite character. I love how Linus is portrayed by Eoin because he is a man of such complexity described in the most simplistic way. Linus is the only reason Conor lasted longer than 24 hours in prison. He served as the guide to Conor’s success and escape. Mr. Wynter got his eyes removed via hot poker after being caught spying on an Indian camp, but continued spying anyway. He is actually a spy for the good King Nick himself, whom Conor greatly trusted and admired.

The world that Eoin Colfer so truthfully describes in Airman fills your head with  the dangers of our modern world. This intricately spun plot incorporates every human emotion you can dream of from horror to elation. In a renaissance like-time period of innovation in the world, Great Saltee is at the top of the curve, thanks to Conor Finn, aviator extraordinaire.

Airman is a constant race with good against evil, Conor Broekhart against Conor Finn, And the Airman vs. Bonvilian. To find out the final secret in this heinous plot, you’ll just have to get your head out of the clouds, and read the book!

-Parker R., 7th grade

Book Review: The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer

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house_scorpionThe House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer is a very interesting blend of science fiction and fantasy. It is a very powerful story that shocks its readers due to its graphic, and sometimes disturbing, subject matter. This book can be read by either gender, and anybody who reads this book will most likely enjoy it.  In it, a “boy” named Matteo Alcrán lives in a place between the United States and where Mexico once was.  But, Matteo is not really a boy. He is a clone harvested from the fields for the purpose of being a body part donor to rich elderly men.. Matteo is not any clone, however. He is the clone of the founder of Opium, an elderly man named El Patrón. Matteo is first raised by a worker of El Patrón’s, a woman named Cecelia, whom Matteo believes is his mother, because she loves him very much. One day when some children, relatives of El Patrón, find him and take him away, Matteo gets hurt and finds out the truth about himself.  El Patrón loves Matteo very much, and lets him live, grow up, and act like a normal boy. However, the rest of the Alcrán family, El Patrón’s relatives, do not like Matteo, and would like to see him dead.  Matteo is surrounded with bodyguards, who teach him the secrets of life.

By the time he turns 14, Matteo feels very special, and does not consider himself a clone anymore.  He then takes a turn for the worse, by ordering  slaves around and rudely demanding things of people. But when El Patrón become very sick, he needs a donor to give him a heart, and Matteo is chosen. However, something very surprising and shocking happens, and Matteo escapes, his head and heart confused and full of both betrayal and loyalty. Matteo is caught and brought to a harvesting plantation for boy orphans, where all the orphans do is harvest plankton, seaweed, and shrimp. The boys are given nothing to eat except plankton, and are treated horribly, until Matteo again escapes with the help of three boys named Ton Ton, Chacho, and Fidelito. They all struggle through the desert, until they finally arrive at a town, only to be greeted by the bosses at the orphanage, who try to kill them.  The boys overpower the men, and discover a very surprising ending, which will rivet anybody who reads this book. Overall, I highly recommend The House of the Scorpion for any teen.

-Will R., 8th grade