Can I See Your I. D.?

Starred review from March 21, 2011
In 10 impeccably crafted profiles, Barton (The Day-Glo Brothers) shares the stories of individualsâmany just teenagersâwho adopted false identities for amusement, profit, or survival. From Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Civil War, to 16-year-old Keron Thomas, who in 1993 impersonated a transit worker to fulfill his dream of piloting a New York City subway train, Barton reveals the motivations behind and the consequences of each deception. The use of second-person narration is very effective, allowing readers to assume the identities of each individual. Barton's prose captures the daring, ingenuity, and quick thinking required of each imposter ("You can bluster and grumble with the best of them.... You use up your share of tobacco too," he writes of Wakeman). In the most powerful stories, assuming a false identity was a life or death decision, as with Soloman Perel, a Jewish teenager who joined the Hitler Youth to escape being killed, and Ellen Craft, a slave who disguised herself as a white Southern gentleman to escape to the North. Hoppe contributes dynamic comic bookâstyle panel art, not all seen by PW. Ages 12âup.

March 15, 2011

In 10 vignettes, Barton profiles successful imposters, both men and women. Some assumed false identities for criminal purposes, others for self-preservation. Possibly the most famous of the 10 is Frank Abagnale, a master con-artist whose exploits were immortalized in the Steven Spielberg film Catch Me if You Can. Asa Earl Carter, a longtime Ku Klux Klan member, adopted the new first name of Forrest and passed himself off as a Cherokee to publish a fake memoir, The Education of Little Tree, a bestseller that became a favorite of middle- and high-school teachers. On the other side of the spectrum is Solomon Perel, a Polish Jew whose Aryan features enabled him to pass as an ethnic German, enroll in the Hitler Youth and survive the Holocaust. Ellen Craft's light-skinned features enabled her to pass as white. With her husband, William, posing as her slave, they audaciously boarded a train in Charleston, S.C., and journeyed to freedom in Philadelphia. Barton's use of the second-person point of view gives these stories dramatic tension and a sense of immediacy. Hoppe's graphic panels enhance this effect. The brevity of these profiles will appeal to reluctant readers and work well for reading aloud, but a little more back story for some characters might have clarified the motives for their masquerades. Teens in the thick of creating identities themselves will find this riveting. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 12 & up)

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May 1, 2011

Gr 6-9-Barton invites readers to travel with some of the world's greatest hoaxers, con artists, counterfeiters, and other great imposters, taking them into their deceptive minds. Ten short chapters feature clever pretenders, such as the legendary Catch Me If You Can's Frank Abagnale, Jr., and his forays into identity theft. The chapters offer in-the-hot-seat details about these clever-minded imposters, including detailed dates and a "What Happened Next?" page. Told in a second person, the text places readers inside the fakers' minds. However, the constant use of the words "you" and "your" gets rather annoying. Readers, especially younger audiences, might have trouble distinguishing if the stories are indeed real or not. Each chapter opens with a graphic-novel-style illustration. The fascinating stories will provide hours of amusement for those who are interested in the subject. The bibliography features many newspaper and magazine articles on each imposter for readers who are interested in pursuing the topic.-Krista Welz, North Bergen Public Library, NJ

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2011
Grades 7-10 Barton, who won a Sibert Honor for The Day-Glo Brothers (2009), has assembled a rogues gallery of con artists, imposters, and pretenders from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The 10 sketches include Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, a young woman who served as a Union soldier in the Civil War; John Howard Griffin, a journalist who impersonated a black man in Montgomery, Alabama, during the height of segregation; the master imposter Frank W. Abagnale Jr., of Catch Me If You Can fame; and 16-year-old Keron Thomas, who drove a New York City subway car for one exciting ride in 1993. The standout imposter, though, is Solomon Perel, a Jewish teen in Nazi Germany who successfully passed as a German, even being recruited into the Hitler Youth. Barton uses a second-person voice to draw readers into every sketch, ending each one with a wrap-up: What Happened Next? Hoppes black-and-white line drawings lend a gritty comics quality to each story, and a bibliography lists articles, books, and movies about each subject. Thoroughly researched and grippingly presented.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)