The full list of nominations for the Texas Library Association’s 2012 Lone Star award for YA books is out now, and I’m thrilled that Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities is on it. Anyone looking for recommendations for new books for young adult titles now has a terrific place to start.
Can I See Your I.D.? has also been nominated for the Cybils, and with that nomination have come a pair of thoughtful new reviews of the book. From Not Just for Kids:
One thing Barton does particularly well is to throw the reader directly into the deception. Along with the use of the second person narration, each fraud is already in full swing when the reader joins. … While the individuals involved might have had plenty of time to plan how they were going to carry out their impersonations, the reader does not and needs to be ready to run with the situation from the get-go. Barton does take a small step back to provide some background information, but then it is back to the business at hand, which is basically, ‘will you pull this off?’
And from Wrapped in Foil:
Starting with a young man who manages to trick the New York City Transit Authority into letting him operate the A Train, to a high school dropout who serves as a navy surgeon, to a woman who passes herself off as a male soldier during the Civil War, it is truly amazing what these imposters are able to carry out. In fact, reading the book might entice someone to give it a try if Barton hadn’t included so much information about how stressful it was to pretend to be someone else. In many of the examples the deception was not voluntary, but a response to a desperate situation.
Bravo, Chris. Nomination AND thoughtful reviews…it does not get better than this for a writer.
That is GREAT!
Thanks, you two!