The House of the Scorpion
Letter to Author Nancy Farmer:
Dear Ms. Farmer:
My name is Aimee Rogers. I teach special education English at Cienega
High School in Vail, Arizona. My students have a wide range of abilities,
both academic and non-academic. The majority of my students are classified
as having a specific learning disability and struggle with reading and
writing. It is my teaching philosophy that young adults should read
young adult literature; this has several benefits for my struggling
readers as they can more easily relate to the topics presented in these
young adult novels and the writing is more accessible to them.
I chose to read your novel The House of the Scorpion with my Junior
Adaptive English classes. I could have not predicted the overwhelming
results of this choice. My students immediately became enthralled with
Matt and his life as El Patron's clone. As a result of my student's
struggles in reading I chose to read your book aloud to them or listen
to the audio version of your novel. However, for several students we
were not reading fast enough so they asked to take books home to read.
One of my toughest students, a football player with a major chip on
his shoulder, would enter my classroom every day and ask, "Are
we reading today?" because he wanted to get back into Matt's world.
It took us about three-quarters of the school year to read The House
of the Scorpion. We completed such assignments as drawing a map of Opium,
writing a eulogy for El Patron, and writing and performing scripts of
favorite parts of the novel. The student's final assignment was to write
you a business letter. The business letter was to include an introduction
of him or herself, what he/she enjoyed the most in the novel, and what
he/she would like to see in a sequel or movie of the novel. I hope that
you enjoy reading these letters from some of your fans.
Thank you for writing novels that present young adults with challenging
issues and compelling characters.
Sincerely,
Aimee Rogers
c/o Cienega High School
12775 E. Mary Ann Cleveland Way
Vail, AZ 85641