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Today I saw the (R-rated) documentary The Imposter, which was disturbing, amazing, and entertaining in equal, ample measure. What it wasn’t, though — at least not for me — was surprising, since I knew so much of what to expect through my research into other stories of false identities for Can I See Your I.D.?

The Imposter lets out — bit by excruciating bit — the true story of a San Antonio family who, three years after the disappearance of their 13-year-old son and brother, was notified that he had turned up in Spain. The young man that they brought home to live with them was different from their lost loved one in crucial, obvious ways that couldn’t have been explained by whatever trauma he had been through in the intervening years, yet they allowed themselves to believe that the person lost and the person found were one and the same.

As the title gives away, they weren’t the same, but anyone who has read the “key lessons” I offer near the end of Can I See Your I.D.? should be able to pick up on the tricks and techniques employed by the imposter to convince the family otherwise.

He kept his mouth shut, saying little that would conflict with what known about the boy whose identity he had appropriated.

He did his best to look the part, and to explain away the ways in which he didn’t.

But rather than “let [his] would-be discoverers feel smart,” the imposter seized upon an impulse more primal than the craving for an ego boost: the desire for even a shred of hope to hang onto, the belief against all logic that someone given up for gone might still be alive. A better way to state that lesson in my book might have been “let your would-be discoverers feel what they most need to feel.”

The imposter’s behavior was reprehensible. His story, however, is grippingly and cleverly told and would make a terrific companion to Can I See Your I.D.? for upper YA readers.

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I spent this past Friday in San Antonio at the regional Library Resource Roundup. Highlights of my day included:

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?

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Q: Did they announce the lineup today for the 2011 Texas Book Festival, to be held in Austin on October 22-23?

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.

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Yes, apparently.

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 fro

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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?”).

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What’s more fun than making a list of these? Attending one of them.

I was in author heaven last week, first with a couple of terrifically productive days in Natchez, Mississippi, and Vidalia, Louisiana, researching my upcoming picture book biography The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch, and then rounding out the week at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg for the 44th Annual Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival.

Wonderful hosts. Terrific speakers, including Derek Anderson, T.A. Barron, Phil Bildner, David Diaz, Gary Schmidt, and Roger Sutton. (And those are just the ones I caught in their entirety: I missed Joyce Carol Thomas entirely and quite reluctantly had to leave for the airport partway through a sidesplitting story from Carmen Agra Deedy.) Marvelous food (and plenty of it). And a tour of the amazing de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection.

One of the other Hattiesburg highlights was seeing, for the first time, hardcover copies of Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities, which officially goes on sale this Thursday. My own box of author copies arrived in Austin while I was gone, along with the nifty bookmarks I’ll be giving away this week at the Texas Library Association conference.

Here’s a peek, along with a hope that if I didn’t get to see you last week in Mississippi, I’ll get to see you this week in Texas!

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Here’s a bit of what the American Library Association’s Booklist magazine has to say about my new book, which officially hits the shelves a week from Thursday:

“Barton … has assembled a rogues’ gallery of con artists, impostors, and pretenders from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. … Barton uses a second-person voice to draw readers into every sketch, ending each one with a wrap-up: ‘What Happened Next?’ Hoppe’s 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.”

I’m expecting two special Can I See Your I.D.? deliveries this week: My box of author copies, and a box (or two) of bookmarks smashingly designed by Sarah Rehm. As much as I’m looking forward to having those hardcovers in my hands, those bookmarks are really something else — I can’t wait for the chance to give them away at the Texas Library Association conference here in Austin next week!

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This sure was a fun one to see. The Publishers Weekly review, in part:

“In 10 impeccably crafted profiles, Barton (The Day-Glo Brothers) shares the stories of individuals–many just teenagers–who adopted false identities for amusement, profit, or survival. … 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 read the rest here.

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Just over four months away from its publication date, Can I See Your I.D.? (Dial, April 2011) has gone from red to blue. Thanks to designer Jasmin Rubero for the spiffy new spin on Paul Hoppe’s cover art!

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Six months before its publication date, Can I See Your I.D.?, has gotten a big vote of confidence from Junior Library Guild, which as selected it as one of the books its members will receive next year. (Here’s a quick guide to how JLG works.)

That’s the week’s biggest news, but there’s been other good stuff as well:

Electronic versions of The Day-Glo Brothers are now available from Readeo and TumbleBooks as well as from Ripple Reader.

Speaking of The Day-Glo Brothers, Jill at Orange Marmalade included the book among her “list of five books about guys who wondered and discovered.”

Janelle at Brimful Curiosities has nominated Shark Vs. Train for the Cybils award for Fiction Picture Books. The nomination period closes this week — have you spoken up for your favorite books of 2010?

The book trailer for Shark Vs. Train is in the running for School Library Journal’s first-ever Trailee Awards, and I sure would appreciate your vote. In case you haven’t seen the terrific job that Little, Brown did, here’s a look right now:

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Galleys — “advance, uncorrected proof[s], not for resale” — for my next book arrived this week! The real deal has a publication date of next April, but I’ve already begun sending these early versions out into the world. Paul Hoppe’s illustrations are too good to keep to myself…

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Two terrific things came my way this week. One of them, I’d been looking forward to for a while. The other was the sweetest of surprises.

First came the new issue of Hunger Mountain, the journal of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. The young adult and children’s literature section alone is packed with essays, excerpts, and poetry worth savoring, and I’m honored to be a contributor.

Here’s a peek at my essay, “Voice: I’ve Gotta (not just) Be Me”:

For Can I See Your I.D.? (Dial, 2011), a young adult collection profiling ten people who pretended to be someone they weren’t, the voice I use is as much a presence in each story as the person I’m writing about. That wasn’t an accident, but it also wasn’t something I had in mind at the outset of the project or deliberately worked to come up with.

As I remember it, I had stacks of research on two of my subjects, ideas for several other candidates, and not a single word written down. Then one night it occurred to me that maybe I could write these profiles in second person, the better to put the reader behind the mask of each masquerader. I tried it and liked the results, and although the editor who had first shown interest in the project was appalled, from then on, I couldn’t imagine not writing this book that way.

So, what’s my New York Times news? Shark Vs. Train has made the Times’ list of best-selling picture books! Thanks so much to all of you who have helped put it there, and especially to the independent booksellers who have been so wonderfully supportive of the book.

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It’s too late for inclusion in my forthcoming book Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities, but this past week’s story of how a 22-year-old basketball player passed himself off to Odessa Permian High School as teen phenom “Jerry Joseph” contains many elements familiar to me from my research.

You’ve got a person with a deep need — psychological, or professional, or simply for survival — to misdirect the people around him. And you’ve got those people around him with their all-too-human abilities to see what they are inclined to see and overlook what doesn’t add up.

My book will include ten such stories. Obviously, there were many more to choose from, and more of them being lived out all the time.

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A neat piece of news about The Day-Glo Brothers came my way yesterday: Korean publisher Munhakdongne has bought translation rights. I don’t know how long it typically takes for a translated version to become available, but it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ll get to have a look at it here just as soon as I get my hands on a copy.

Shark Vs. Train had some great news of its own this week, in the form of its first review — and a starred one, no less, from Publishers Weekly:

This is a genius concept … Just when readers will think the scenarios can’t get more absurd, the book moves into even funnier territory. … Lichtenheld’s watercolor cartoons have a fluidity and goofy intensity that recalls Mad magazine, while Barton gives the characters snappy dialogue throughout.

(You should know that Tom Lichtenheld supplied lots of snappy dialogue himself.)

Finally — and I do mean “finally!” — it looks like my young-adult nonfiction project with Dial has a title that will stick, after having had several that turned out not to be so sticky. Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities is scheduled to publish in spring 2011. I’ve spent the past week responding to final edits, and soon I’ll get to see sketches from illustrator Paul Hoppe.

But it’s Paul Hoppe, so really my only question is just how terrific they’re going to be…

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Have you seen the terrific animation that Charlesbridge Publishing put together showing how regular color, fluorescence, and daylight fluorescence work? For all the words in The Day-Glo Brothers, and all the clever art, Charlesbridge rightly figured that a little something extra was the best way to get those concepts across.

Well, now Charlesbridge and I have come up with another little something extra: The Day-Glo Brothers Activity and Discussion Guide. In its four downloadable pages, you’ll find discussion questions for before and after reading, a bevy of activity ideas, a glossary, and links to other online resources. It’s absolutely free and available now, and I’d love to know what you think of it.

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An hour or so ago, I gladly sent my editor a complete draft of my impostors manuscript (renamed, at least for the moment, Masqueraders).

And with that, my brain, my blog and I are off for the holidays. Here's to a satisfying and safe season for us all.

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...but why is it that I get more writing done when I unplug my internet connection and can't find my iPod?

I just finished a draft of my ninth Impostors profile. That leaves one more profile to go -- plus a concluding chapter, plus assorted cleanup -- before I send the whole thing to my editor, ideally on or before December 21. I think I can do it.

And with the text and sketches for S.V.T. now headed for copyediting, an actual Christmas vacation is starting to seem within reach.

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A little under two years ago, inspiration took me to a strange and unexpected place, and from that place emerged a completely silly picture book known in these parts as S.V.T. About a year and a half ago, Little, Brown bought that manuscript, and then the (completely expected, thoroughly understandable) waiting began, during which time I moved on to other things.

This past Monday, I was all set to continue working on the latest profile in my YA nonfiction project on impostors (a profile for which I've learned a lot about the leech-wholesaling business, among other things), when revision notes came in from the editor and illustrator of S.V.T.

For the briefest moment, I panicked: During the two-week turnaround time requested, could I even get back to that weirdo mental state I'd been in when S.V.T. first came to me, let alone produce anything worthwhile?

Then I got to work. I opened up all my old folders and drafts, reacquainted myself with my characters and sensibility, and got going. By the end of the week, I had scraps of paper -- some for old bits of the manuscript, some for new bits -- stuck to the wall and door of my study in something less than totally haphazard fashion, ready to be reworked. My sons were back into full-on help-Daddy-brainstorm mode. I'm having a blast. All is good.

And I'm reasonably certain that, a week from Tuesday, I'll be able to jump right back in with the leeches.

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Monday
Emailed an international archivist organization to ask for help in contacting Subject A. No answer, so far.

Tuesday
Called a high school to see if they can help me reach Subject B, one of their alumni. Got stuck in a summer-vacation voicemail loop.

Called a labor union office to see if they can help me get in touch with Subject B, possibly a member. Not so helpful -- they can't give me any information (which I entirely expected), nor can they take any information from me to pass along to to that potential member (which I only partially expected).

Emailed a Subject C aficionado in another country. The email bounced, so I found another address for him. That email bounced, so...

Wednesday
Mailed letters to three possible home addresses for Subject B, having already gotten back marked "Return to Sender" the letter I'd sent to the one known address I had for him.

Found and used a third email address for the Subject C enthusiast. No bounce, but no reply yet, either.

Thursday
Called the phone number for Subject D. Was told by the person answering the phone that an interview was unlikely, but that I was welcome to send more information about my project.

Friday
Emailed information for Subject D to consider. A few hours later, I heard back that we're on for an interview next week.

Spent lunch hour reading from a 500-page book about Subject E... Read the rest of this post

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Well, since last time, let's see...

Researching and writing new profiles for my Impostors project, a.k.a. Pasta.

Booking a summer trip to Boston, where I'll visit my Day-Glo publisher and hang out with my agent and some of her other clients.

Starting manuscript critiques for next month's SCBWI conference, and making plans to entertain out-of-towners.

Revising my recent picture book manuscripts, starting with Bell.

Toiling away on a plan to raise the profile of children's and YA nonfiction right here in the (or at least a) River City.

Trying to keep my writing-related-but-not-actual-writing-writing activities in check. So with that, I'm off... Read the rest of this post

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It's been a while since my last update along these lines, so the answer must be "not much." But since I just met my final deadline of the year -- three new sample profiles with which Pasta's publisher will try to tempt potential illustrators -- now seems like a good time to get my head clear on what's next:

Making copies of the many, many Lomax materials currently in my possession (Austin-area libraries and Interlibrary Loan have been very good to me) before I go out and get any more. And with an April deadline looming, I really ought to just stop gathering materials for a while, make sense of what I've got, write what I can, and then see what holes in my research still need to be filled.

Saying "no." I'm full for 2008. Can't take on anything else. Not that other folks are asking me to take on a bunch of other things -- most of the opportunities that I'll need to say "no" to will originate within my own head.

Filing!

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The other night I'd thought I'd sort of finished a first draft of Chapter 4 of my Lomax book. Then, yesterday, a source called back with some illuminating information about one of Alan Lomax's many undertakings in the years just after WWII.

Then, today -- and I can hardly believe this -- I remembered that I never had made it all the way through the letters of his that are available here in Austin at the Center for American History. (I'd left off in the mid-1940s back when I was still writing about the mid-1930s, and I guess I got distracted.) So, I spent a late lunch hour there today getting still more clarification about the period covered by Chapter 4.

I'd love to keep this momentum going, but I'm due for a major gear-switching. For several months my plan had been to spend December turning out drafts of three more chapters for Pasta. With the recent change in editors, though, I hadn't been sure whether the original vision and schedule for the project would hold.

Yesterday, I had a enjoying and reassuring first conversation with my new Pasta editor, and the upshot is that all previous plans for the book are still intact. Which means it's time for me to get ready for those additional Pasta chapters. I just need to make sure I remember to go back to the CAH for the rest of those Lomax letters when I'm done.

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If I wasn't already involved in next spring's Austin Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference as a panelist, I'd be knocking folks out of the way to get my registration into the mail.

Perhaps I'm biased -- one of the faculty members sold one of my manuscripts to another of the faculty members -- but the lineup of professionals, sessions, and activities is the best I've ever seen this side of the annual SCBWI conference in Los Angeles. It truly seems perfectly designed to meet the needs of children's and YA writers at every stage on the path of publication.

They even found someone to critique nonfiction manuscripts.

Earlier tonight I found out what will happen to Pasta, the manuscript bought by an editor now moving to a different publishing house.

The most likely options were that the manuscript would land in the hands of a different editor at the same publisher (Dial), or that it would go with the original editor to her new employer.

Turns out, I'm staying with Dial. I'll miss working with my original editor -- she and I had put our heads together in her office last spring to come up with a vision for the book -- but I also get a kick out of knowing that, in a sense, I've sold the manuscript twice, once to each editor.

And if the new editor and I come up with a different vision, no biggie: I haven't done much more than think about this project since finishing the proposal.

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I found out today that the acquiring editor in my most recent sale is switching publishers.

Well, that's a new one for me. Perhaps this is understating things a bit, but I sure am curious to see what will happen next.

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In my first 75 months of writing for children, I made one sale (The Day-Glo Brothers). In the past five months, my agent has made three on my behalf -- S.V.T., my Alan Lomax biography, and now Pasta.

This third sale, to Dial, was announced just yesterday, and we're describing this Y.A. project as a "collection of profiles of real-life impostors ranging from charlatans to survivors." Since it doesn't yet have an official title, or much else -- we sold this one based on a proposal and two sample chapters -- Pasta gets to keep its code name. (Get it? Impostor, pasta -- I guess it helps to imagine a New England accent.)

These past few months have been thrilling and bewildering, rewarding and discombobulating. After more than six years of always actively trying to sell what I've written, I'm in the unfamiliar position of having enough work lined up to keep me busy for the next couple of years. I like the security and stability of the situation, but I hope I'll still have the flexibility to jump onto some new project temporarily should inspiration come from an unexpected place.

But that's just me overthinking things. For now, I'll close with this quote from my limbic brain:

"Woo-hoo!"

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