num_pages: 380
description: Series: National Book Award Winner for Young People's Literature, Newbery Honor Book, Printz Honor BookMatteo Alacrán was not born; he was harvested.His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium--a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster--except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself.As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patrón's power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn't even suspect.
language: English
title: The House of the Scorpion
titlecomplete: The House of the Scorpion
characters: Tam Lin, Fidelito, Chacho, Ton-Ton, El Patron, Maria Mendoza
genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Teen, School, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fantasy, Dystopia
ratings_count: 90622
series: Matteo Alacran
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Newbery Medal, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: National Book Award
category: Young People's Literature, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Mythopoeic Fantasy Award
category: Children's Literature, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Buxtehuder Bulle, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Michael L. Printz Award, awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: South Carolina Book Award
category: Junior Book Award, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Grand Canyon Reader Award
category: Teen Book, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Rhode Island Teen Book Award, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award
category: Senior, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award, awardedAt: 1199174400000
name: Lincoln Award, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Gateway Readers Award, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Oklahoma Sequoyah Award
category: YA
publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books