Customer Reviews

Scorpions (Newbery Honor Book)

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(57)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Scorpions, a book about a gang. Very true to life. It really makes you think about the society today. Drive-by shootings, drugs, sexual harrassment, mostly by gangs. In this book, it really makes you think about these gangs and the dangers of being involved with them. That's what happened to Jamal, isn't it? This is a very sad story about a poor family who is just kind of having to eke out on the edge. Jamal's brother is in jail, and he wants Jamal to take over his gang. The problem is, the whole gang's whacko. This story is very well-written, and you can actually feel Jamal's fear and his sadness. This book is excellent, and I reccomend it to anyone who likes read.

"That ain't real," Dwayne said.
"Come on," Jamal said. There was a taste of blood in his mouth. "You gonna see it's real." Dwayne didn't move.
Jamal held the gun pointed at Dwayne's head... Jamal is a troubled teen that has more problems than average. His brother, Randy, is in Jail and the lawyers keep on increasing the prices for their services. Then Jamal meets a former gang member, Mack, who's trying to persuade Jamal to follow his brother's footsteps and join the gun toting, case catching, robbing, Scorpions. Jamal's mother doesn't want him to meet with Mack though. She thinks that Mack is bad news. Jamal and his best friend, Tito, are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They can either join the Scorpions and get the money for his brother's appeal, or let his brother rot in jail.

Gangs, violence, guns, drugs, and poverty are just some of the topics that other sugar-coated books steer clear of. Walter Dean Myers, however, is a risk-taker and isn't afraid to expose the public to these subjects.
In the well-written book Scorpions, Myers breaks away from the everyday children's books. He writes about a young boy from Harlem, Jamal.
When Jamal's brother Randy goes to jail, Jamal has to take his place as the leader of the gang Scorpions. He thinks it is a bad idea. In my opinion, Myers successfully intertwined the worlds of violence and gangs. Jamal, the innocent bystander, and Indian, a fellow gang member, battle for position of head Scorpion. It is Indian's rough personality that Jamal is intimidated by.
I enjoyed this book a lot. The book reminds me of how people fight in my school and I could relate. As I was reading the book, I felt supportive of Jamal and the decisions he needed to make. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a refreshing change of perspectives. Anyone can relate to this book.

Scorpions Tim Roat Per. 3 4/30/01 My book is called the Scorpions, a book written by Walter Dean Meyers 1988. Its about a 13 year old boy named Jamal, who's older brother went to jail for murder. He was the leader of the gang called the scorpions. Since his older brother is locked up, his right hand man Mack is trying to get his little brother Jamal to run the gang. So he decides to do it so he can get the money to bail his brother out of jail. There is a lot of strong points in this book, such as, Jamal pulling a gun on one of his class mates in school, his brother gets stabbed while in jail, and one of Jamal's fellow gang members is trying to kill him. Personally I thought this was a really good book and I HATE to read. Everything is understandable, its not like other books where every other word you don't understand. So if your looking for a good easy book to read, I would suggest Scorpions.

The book I read was Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers. This book was a very good book; it is about a gang called the Scorpions. The main character is Jamal, he is in school, and some other characters are, his older brother Randy who is in jail, and his little sister named Sassy who is annoying, especially him. I love the Walter Dean Myer's entire book series. He is one of my favorite authors of all time. This book was exciting and very suspenseful. I liked his book called Fallen Angels it was better than this book but this book was still a very good book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves gangs and a good book.
By: Will

I really enjoyed reading the book scopions by Walter Dean Myers. The book is about a boy named Jamal. Jamal is 13 years old. Jamal has a brother named randy. Randy is the leather of a gang named scopions.Randy goes to jail for murder. Randy was involve in a gang shoting. Jamal lives with his mother, brother and sister in Harlem.I recommend this book to all the readers that like the book monster and other books by Walter Dean Myers. I give this book 4 stars.
By: Jossian P

This was a great book. I enjoyed reading it the whole time. As you read, you feel like you are Jamal, the main character, living his rough life. This book takes place in Harlem, New York. Jamal's older brother, Randy, is in jail for murder. He was the leader of a gang called the Scorpions. Randy's best friend Mac, who is also a member of the gang tells Jamal to lead the gang until they can get the cash for his brother's appeal. Jamal doesn't want to at first because he knows it is dangerous, and there are many troublesome people involved. He decides to join only because his mother wants money to get Randy out of jail. Mac gives Jamal a gun and introduces him to the other members- Indian, Blood, and Angel. They think he is too young to run the gang but don't do anything because he has a gun. Jamal realizes the power that this gun has and uses it for his own personal problems- like a bully in school named Dwayne. He threatens him with the gun and scares him off good. After Jamal almost gets in trouble, he wants to back down as the Scorpion leader. He offers the position to Indian, who was intimidating him to give up. Indian not only takes the position, but also beats up Jamal with the help of Angel. Jamal's best friend Tito is standing by with the gun and shoots Angel. He saved Jamal's life. If you want to find out how the friends end up, you will have to read the book. I suggest it to anyone who likes reading because it won an award. I give this book four out of five stars because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

With the publication of Scorpions, individuals of all nationalities will come to realize that poverty can glue a family together as easily as it can break them apart. Walter Dean Myers presents, with tremendous description, a realistic story about a family that is going through ups and downs simply trying to save enough money to start an appeal for a loved one who's in jail. With these thoughts in mind, I will now present the real story beneath all the layers of grief and mourning.
Though with many setbacks, Jamal and his family have always held their heads up high and tried to their best capability at everything they did. This time however, Jamal's irresponsibility and his mother's low wages have gradually stacked up as if like building blocks to prevent them from saving enough money to start Randy's appeal. After Randy was stabbed multiple times in the upstate prison, it became more urgent then ever to start his appeal before it was too late. After Tito moved to Puerto Rice and Randy resigned the position as leader of the Scorpions, the situation looked too grim to improve much more.
Walter Dean Myers expresses himself quite eloquently and gracefully through his writing, every page filled to the brim with description. However, the end of the does not bring the central conflict to a satisfying resolution. The author did not reveal to the reader several key components, including if Randy's appeal will ever begin, whether or not Tito will get convicted for murdering Angel, and will Jamal and his family ever become a family once again. I recommend this novel specifically to teenagers who take pleasure in reading realistic pieces of writing. If you enjoy reading novels of hard cold truth, Scorpions is probably for you.

Eric Schimler
...

The Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers is an inspiring book for kids in their teens. I read it for reading journal. This book is about a boy, Jamal, and his friend, Tito, who get themselves caught in a pickle. They do not know whether or not to join a gang, the scorpions, a illegal gang that does drugs and illegal substances like that. When Jamal gets a gun from Mack, gets into fights with Indian, and randy, Jamals brother is sent to jail and stabbed by Indian who is a gang member and doesn't want Jamal to be leader of the Scorpions Jamals world is turned upside down. The major part in the book was when Jamal met Indian and Angel and at the park downtown. It was brave how Tito stopped Indian from stabbing and probably killing Jamal. This book does not teach you a lesson but it does tell most readers how lucky they are to have a nice home and community. If you want to find out if jamal joins the scorpions or not read the book. It was one of the greatest books I have ever read. I recommend this books to kids of all ages.

This book is perfect for people looking to see what life is like in the inner city. If you have read other Walter Dean Myers books than you'll see this is just a good as them. I really got into the book because the book has tons of subplots. You can't put the book down because every time the story switches to the next event it is another exciting part. All the characters were very round and interesting to read about. Walter Dean Myers style was very good in this book because you read one big part after another. I think the main theme Walter Dean Myers was trying to get across was that you have to stay strong and not give in to bad things like gangs. Also this book was just full of conflict one bad thing after the last and it seemed like Jamal would never get out. Like Jamal got in trouble in class then in the principles office then getting into gang then fighting with Dwayne the bully. The book really started to make me feel bad for Jamal because his life was a mess and there wasn't much good in it. The only good he really had was his best friend Tito and art. It was like good things were being stripped away from him here and there and it kept going and going. I would have to give this book a very high rating because it was such a good book. I would give it a 9/10 and would suggest anyone who enjoys Walter Dean Myers read this book!