The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is covered with award stickers, including the National Book Award, Newbery Honor, and Michael Printz award. After reading this very excellent and suspenseful cautionary tale, I'm not surprised.
Detailing a future where cloning is commonplace, The House of the Scorpion takes place in North America, which has been splintered into territories ruled by powerful drug lords, including the country called Opium.
The main character, Matt, is a clone of the tyrannical patriarch of the Alacrán empire, El Patrón. Unlike the clones that are made "eejits" at birth, Matt's mental faculties are left intact, and he grows up being cared for by Celia, who loves him like a son, and knowing that he is has a special role to play in the Alacrán family. When he meets other children in the Alacrán world, he learns that most people react to clones with fear and disgust. Yet, the little girl Maria, always treats him like the person he feels he is.
An exciting survival story begins to unfold, as Matt fights for his life, in more ways than one, and builds unlikely alliances, from Maria, to Tam Lin, a bodyguard with a dark secret, to the "Lost Boys" orphans that he meets later on.
Highly recommended.