Saturday, January 28, 2012

Can I See Your ID? True Stories of False Identities by Chris Barton-ADVISABLE


Barton, Chris. Can I See Your ID?: True Stories of False Identities,121 pages, Dial Books, 2011, $16.99. Language-G, Mature Content-G, Violence-G

Can I See Your ID?
is a collection of stories about people who did very interesting and sometimes illegal things while posing to be someone else. Princess Caraboo, a fake. The author of The Education of Little Tree, not a Native American, and the engineer of that subway you are riding on might just be a sixteen year old with a fascination for trains. Notorious fakers and liars masquerade as what they are not in Barton's tales of crime, desperation and adventure. His research is thorough and cited at the back of the book. The episodes told in second person draw the reader in and let them experience the perpetrators' thinking behind each masquerade. My favorite part is the "What happened next" addendum at the end of every story. Engaging and easy to read, Can I see Your ID? would be an excellent way to interest young readers in nonfiction or biographies.  MS-ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Gretchen 

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