Summer Reads: Scorpions

A book so well done you'll forget you're reading!

Scorpions

Author: Walter Dean Myers

Publisher/Date: Harper and Row, 1988/Amistad, 1990

Number of Pages: 216

Recommended age of readers: 12 and up

It's not a classic—yet—but Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers sure reads like one. The book has already been named a Newbery Honor Award book and author Myers has received the Coretta Scott King Award five times. He has also won the Margaret A. Edwards Book Award. After reading the book this summer, I can see why. I got so lost in the story, I would forget I was reading.

The setting is the urban jungle of Harlem, New York. Jamal is a normal 12-year-old boy, whose brother Randy is in jail for armed robbery and murder. Randy needs $2,000 for his court appeal, but Mama just doesn't have the money.

The only way to get the money is for Jamal to become the leader of Randy's gang, The Scorpions. Randy's friend Mack gives Jamal a pistol and tells him to think about it. Jamal is confused and under even mor pressure because another boy is bulling him at school. Jamal's best friend Tito adds to the stress when he tells Jamal he isn't too sure about the whole Scorpions thing.

The way Myers puts his words together makes me feel like I'm in the story, and it's a great feeling. As you follow the story, you go through a variety of feelings—from happy, to sad, to confused, to excited. I even felt some of these feelings at the same time as I was reading Scorpions.

Scorpions is a great book and I highly recommend it.

—Andre Baker-Harris

PHOTO: Book Cover Courtesy Harper Collins/Amistad

NOTE: What books have you read this summer? Use the blue comment link below to make your own book recommendations or add your thoughts about Scorpions.

Comments

[KR: Miranda]

Awesome! He sounds like a brilliant author! You're describing an author who seems to be everything a novelist like myself wants to be. Writers like this are rare. My favorite has to be Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of the Secret Garden. The book it absolutely wonderful for similar reasons. I love how the character Mary grows on you and you can see her develop into a great young woman - not just some stubborn, selfish brat. She feels so absolutely real. It is at the height of realistic fiction - realistic and absorbing, but magical and breathtaking all the way.

I can't wait to read work by Myers, including Scorpions!