Two things have made it easier.

First, Can I See Your I.D.? has been named to the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers. What’s that about? Well…

The Quick Picks list, presented annually at the ALA Midwinter Meeting suggests books that teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure; it is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read. The 2012 list features 117 titles; the committee also selected a top ten list, denoted here by an asterisk.

“There is something here for everyone, from our struggling readers in middle school to the overscheduled young adult looking for a really good read,” said Chair Heather Gruenthal. “I am really proud of this year’s committee for their work with teen groups from across the country and coming up with such a diverse list. Only on Quick Picks can you find zombies, superheroes, gangs, ghost hunters, murderers, monsters, goth girls, baby animals, gross facts, and sports heroes all in the same place.”

And then there’s this review of my book (combined with praise for Badass: The Birth of a Legend and The Oxford Companion to Beer):

In Can I See Your ID?, Barton cleverly places readers in the centre of the action by addressing them with the word “you,” as if they are the impostors. Whether writing about a slave posing as a slave owner to escape the Deep South or a penniless woman finding food and lodging by pretending to be an exotic foreigner, Barton captivates, in part because the stories allow him to explore the fascinating psychology of deceit. Each story ends with a sidebar explaining the fate of the impersonator or con artist. At about 120 pages, Can I See Your ID? is a slim but entertaining volume appropriate for middle schoolers and up.

A technical glitch kept this post from appearing for several days after it was written. In the meantime, another kind review of Can I See Your I.D.? popped up, so I’ll quote from that one, too. Many thanks to Kiss the Book!

Engaging and easy to read, Can I see Your ID? would be an excellent way to interest young readers in nonfiction or biographies.

If you’re in the Dallas area on Tuesday, please join me at 7 p.m. at a Real Bookstore in Fairview as I read from, discuss, and sign Can I See Your I.D.? You can even ask if you can see my I.D. I promise you nobody else has ever done that.

And if you’re in Austin this weekend and in the Dallas area on Tuesday, please know that you’ve got an excellent chance to make me your best friend for life.

Here are the details on the Texas Book Festival events I’ll be participating in:

A Convergence of Souls
a collaboration with Austin Bat Cave featuring the Festival’s young adult writers
Date: Saturday, October 22, 2011
Time: 9:00 – 9:45
Location: Lit Crawl: Texas State Cemetery

What’s spookier than a slew of the nation’s finest young adult authors all gathered together in one place? Well, a lot actually – that sounds downright pleasant. But did we mention they’re gathering in the Texas State Cemetery, where the hallowed graves of countless former statesmen (and sometime ghosts) pass their grim vigil? OK, so it might be more than a little spooky, but terror aside, this collection of sheer talent should make for a rather fun evening. You’ll get to meet the writers (listed below), hear them talk about their newest books, and maybe even watch them compete for literary glory. And don’t worry, we promise to keep the prospect of your looming mortality to, you know, a minimum. Bring a blanket and flashlight!

Authors:
Jennifer Ziegler
Margaret Stohl
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Joe Schreiber
Alex Sanchez
Louis Sachar
David Rice
Kathy Reichs
Shelia P. Moses
Barry Lyga
David Levithan
Joe R. Lansdale
Ellen Hopkins
Kami Garcia
Sarah Dessen
James Dashner
Rosemary Clement-Moore
Libba Bray
Chris Barton
Jay Asher
Jessica Lee Anderson
Jill S. Alexander
Emceed By: Kathleen Houlihan

Kids Read Nonfiction, Too!
Date: Sunday, October 23, 2011
Time: 2:00 – 3:00
Location: Capitol Extension Room E2.012

We often recall childhood reading as the time when books we love took us to other worlds, times, and people. But those books aren’t always fiction – well-crafted nonfiction for kids and adolescents engage us in the actual world, without feeling like homework. Come listen to Chris Barton, Jeanette Larson, and Elaine Scott in conversation about how they connect with readers.

Moderator and children’s author Anne Bustard is a former children’s bookseller and teacher, avid listmaker, and fan of Kailua Beach.

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.

Meeting Adam Gidwitz, the Brooklyn-based author of A Tale Dark & Grimm. Adam not only gave the keynote address — he also gave me a lot to think about (starting with, “How can I make the audience laugh as much as he did?”) as I prepare for my own keynote at a similar event in Waco in November. During an informal Q&A (as opposed, I guess, to the rigidly formal Q&A sessions the librarians have come to expect from children’s authors), Adam discussed the eye-opening usefulness of a certain screenwriting guide. Well, that same guide — Save the Cat! — happens to be the very one I’ve been using to help me out in rewrites of my current manuscript, so I knew he was good people, even if he did set an unwelcomely high bar for keynotes.

Hearing Viki Ash of the San Antonio Public Library — and chair of the 2012 Newbery Award Selection Committee — explain the process for choosing the medal winner. Understanding better how it all works makes me all the more hopeful that I can be in the room in Dallas this coming January when the latest crop of ALA winners is announced.

Debuting my new presentation, “Can You See Their I.D.’s?”

When we’re teenagers, we’re all trying on new identities, we’re all on an adventure, and we’re all at least a little bit off. Author Chris Barton brings those three elements together in his YA nonfiction thriller Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities. In this presentation, he’ll discuss how books — from the comic to the tragic — with characters in the throes of identity crises can better equip teen readers to deal with their own.

As part of the presentation, I provided a couple of reading lists. Why, here they are now:

A Pretty Thorough List of Books for Young Readers Written in Second Person
Barton, Chris – Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities
Benoit, Charles – You
Jenkins, A. M. – Damage
Lynch, Chris – Freewill
Montgomery, R. A. – Choose Your Own Adventure 1: The Abominable Snowman

A Highly Selective List of Books for Young Readers With Identity As a Major Theme
Barton, Chris – Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities
Bjorkman, Laura – My Invented Life
Cannon, A. E. – The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love
Cottrell Boyce, Frank – Cosmic
Fletcher, Ralph – Also Known As Rowan Pohi
Larbalestier, Justine – Liar
Perkins, Mitali – First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover
Sonnenblick, Jordan – Zen and the Art of Faking It
Tashjian, Janet – The Gospel According to Larry
Ziegler, Jennifer – How Not to Be Popular

Which titles would you add to either list?

A: Yes

Q: Am I on it?

A: Yes

Q: Am I at least as excited about the other authors who will be appearing as I am about my own participation?

A: Well, let’s see — the lineup includes Jay Asher, Mac Barnett, Libba Bray, Doreen Cronin… And those are just some of the children’s and YA authors up through “C” in last-name alphabetical order, at which point I start to get the vapors. So, you tell me.

Q: How might one go about seeing the entire list?

A: By clicking here.

Q: What if someone wanted to see a Marc Burckhardt-designed Texas Book Festival poster with a flaming horse?

A: In that case, they would click here.

Q: Could I have been any more delighted by the writeup you received, including a description of Can I See Your I.D.? that says it “acutely captures the breathless suspense of the long-con,” praises “the fun of I.D.‘s unconventional storytelling,” and concludes that “After a while, you can’t imagine telling the tales of deception and white-knuckled suspense any other way”?

A: Nope.

Last Saturday, Austin’s favorite indie bookseller BookPeople hosted my launch celebration for Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities. Here’s a recap of what we did:

The party was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., which in my experience means that a sufficient crowd had gathered by 7:10 for us to get rolling. Until then, there was much mingling, donning of the 30 pairs of Groucho Marx glasses I’d bought, and applying of “My Name Is” tags filled out with “Inigo Montoya,” “Cleopatra,” “Marc Zuckerberg,” etc.

To fill the time before the presentation started, audience members were encouraged to write down and submit their own tales of first-person fakery (“When I was about __ years old, I pretended to be/masqueraded as/tried to convince someone that I was ______________________________”) in return for getting into the running for one of three giveaway copies of the book.

As folks arrived, I pointed out the “conceptual beverages” — one dispenser containing a clearish liquid and labeled “Looks like watery lemonade to us” and another containing a bright blue liquid and labeled “Probably something blue-tasting.” The latter was just water with blue food coloring, while the former contained purported blueberry flavoring that some said tasted more like bubblegum or a Yankee Candle but which regardless got across the concept (I hope) of things not being what they seem.

Then BookPeople’s children’s-events coordinator extraordinaire Mandy Brooks –

– welcomed the crowd and introduced yours truly. “Chris Barton” approached the podium –

– and thanked the audience for their support of his previous two books. He then mentioned how glad he was that, unlike his previous launch parties, the attendees for this one included his best friend from high school, Dallas journalist “Jason Sickles,” seen emerging here:

At this point –

– “Jason” suggested to “Chris” that, since Can I See Your I.D.? is about false identities, perhaps it would be fun and fitting for them to switch roles for the rest of the night.

Thusly switched, “Chris,” or the author, or me, or whoever I am read excerpts from the Keron Thomas and Ellen Craft chapters of the book, was interviewed by Jason (or “Jason”) about subjects I considered but did not include in the book, my research process, writing in second person, and my shift from picture books to young adult.

After that, I chose the winners of the giveaway, which included one erstwhile would-be horse, one former 19-year-old who for reasons unfathomable to many of us had represented himself as being 21, and a not-quite-legit fairy princess whose ruse failed “when my wings fell off.”

A few questions were answered, a few books were signed –

– and off we all went into the night.

My fellow clients represented by the Erin Murphy Literary Agency have continued hosting me on their blogs lately in celebration of the recent publication of Can I See Your I.D.?, and I’ve enjoyed their hospitality a whole bunch.

See for yourself at Ruth Barshaw’s Ellie McDoodle blog (featuring the sketch above and several others), Penny Blubaugh’s blog (“What inspired you to take on the topic of false identities?

”), and Jean Reidy’s A Totally Random Romp (“If you could assume the identity of any literary figures who would make it to your top 5?”).

It is a reading experience that held my attention to the end; and young people to whom I have given the book report they could not put it down until they finished it! Some have even admitted they really don’t like to read, but these were little stories that made them want to read more about those clever people…and that is yet another gift you have given readers, especially the reluctant ones we often face, Chris Barton! Thank you.

You’re welcome, Carol!

I also wrote about Can I See Your I.D.? and Shark Vs. Train in a guest post on the wonderful-beyond-words Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Cynsations:

They’re both pretty indicative of the sorts of writing I like to do — unbridled silliness on one hand and carefully researched truth-telling on the other. And both lend themselves to school-visit presentations that I personally find to be a whole lot of fun — roaring GRRRRR! and CHUGRRR-CHUG! for the former, and for the latter recounting the story of how 16-year-old New Yorker Keron Thomas (nearly) got away with impersonating an A train motorman for three hours.

I also spent some time on fakecrap.com — not in any sort of official authorial capacity, but as a shopper for giveaways (see above photo) for my May 14 launch of Can I See Your I.D.? at Austin’s BookPeople. If you’re one of the first 30 people there, well, if the disguise works, we’ll have no way of knowing…

Thanks, Peter! And congratulations! And, while I’m at it, here’s to you for the terrific post you wrote Monday when you made your big announcement…

Heck, you might even be the type to repost that link, share it, tweet it, and so forth…