House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

I don’t know why I’m so interested in dystopian literature, but I am. Interested may be too mild a word. I am fascinated by books with dystopian themes and at least like most of the books I read in this genre.

I listened to House of the Scorpion on audio CD with my two teenage sons.  Wow, what an incredible book!  I didn’t love it as much as I loved The Giver by Lois Lowry, but it was still really powerful.  There are so many issues to discuss in this book. My sons were anxious to talk about everything the book presented as well. Words cannot describe the satisfaction I get from listening to or reading the same books at the same time as my kids. I feel it’s even more important, not less, as they move into their middle teens. I highly recommend it.

It’s really difficult to describe the plot of this without giving too much away. I didn’t know much about the book when I picked it out for us to listen to — just that it was dystopian lit, so I’m hesitant to spill the beans on this one because I loved discovering it ‘fresh’ so to speak. Suffice it to say it’s an excellent YA dystopian book, and I will definitely be looking into more of Nancy Farmer’s work.

2002, 380 pp.

[Disclosure: I checked out this audio CD  from my local library]