Scorpions [Paperback]

The Scorpions are a gun-toting Harlem gang, and Jamal Hicks is about to become tragically involved with them in this authentic tale of the sacrifice of innocence and the struggle to steer clear of violence.

This Newbery Honor Book will challenge young men to consider their own decisions as they come of age in a complex and often frustrating society.

Pushed by a bully to fight and nagged by his principal, Jamal is having a difficult time staying in school. His home life is not much better, with his mother working her fingers to the bone to try to earn the money for an appeal for Jamal's jailed older brother, Randy.

Jamal wants to do the right thing and help earn the money to free his brother by working, but he's afraid to go against the Scorpions. Jamal eventually pulls free of the gang's bad influence, but only through the narrowest of escapes.

Walter Dean Myers, five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, sensitively explores the loyalty and love between friends faced with hard choices.Scorpionsis 25 years old, but the issues of poverty and violence make it a timeless powerful read—sadly as relevant as ever.

This special twenty-fifth anniversary edition contains the originalScorpionsnovel, plus an extra Q&A withNew York Timesbestselling author Walter Dean Myers—including questions about juvenile detention facilities, gang life today, and friendship.

Also included are a sneak peek atKick, by Walter Dean Myers and Ross Workman, and an excerpt from Myers'sNew York Timesbestselling novelMonster.

Now with extra material to celebrate the 25th anniversary ofScorpions!

Everyone is getting on Jamal's case. The kids at school are bugging him, his teachers won't leave him alone, and the principal's always giving him a hard time. Even his mama yells at him, upset because Jamal's brother, Randy, is in jail. The only pel#S