Weyn, S. (2004). The Barcode Tattoo. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc. Point Thriller imprint.
•Plot Summary
Kayla is on the verge of her seventeenth birthday when her world falls apart. Already advised that despite her artistic talent she will not be eligible for scholarships due to sub par grades in her computer classes, she is devastated when her father commits suicide for unknown reasons related to the tattoo almost everyone in the U.S. over the age of seventeen has begun to wear, tattoos that contain information about everything from blood type to life history. Her mother becomes an alcoholic drug user, but will not tell Kayla what she knows, not even after Kayla finds her mother reading the FBI file on her father. The file reports more than just bank information and salary details now as well, it also contains information about a person's genetic code, information that world technology leader Global-1 is using in order to weed out Undesireables. Suddenly, only those with the right genetic information can advance in their jobs, and others (like Kayla's father) are fired. Global-1 has been manipulating the world food supply since 2015, but now they are also placing microchips in healthy babies, while the ones that show genetic codes given to predispositions for heart disease or mental illness (again like Kayla's father-a potential schizophrenic) are simply left to die in cold rooms or given lethal injections. As part of a group of young people trying to fight back against the barcode trend, Kayla becomes involved with charismatic Zekeal, but he is working as part of a group for Global-1, finally convinced that a rebellion will never succeed. Ultimately, Kayla flees to the Adirondack Mountains, a place she has been having visions about since she first joined with the group. Led by the psychic energy of a woman named Eutonah, Kayla and others develop their mental abilities rapidly, no longer influenced by the dulling work of Global-1's tactics or the company's strategy of disallowing further human evolution without their intervention. Together with the boy she loves, Mfumbe, Kayla at last feels enough resolve and assurance in the cause to plan a meeting in Washington, D.C. in order to overthrow the work Global-1 has done.
•Critical Evaluation
This is a heart-pounding race for time sort of novel, in which it's easy to get lost. Kayla is not a superheroine, even after developing her psychic abilities well enough to revive a dead bird, but this makes the story seem more plausible. She and her friends are young people caught in a complex series of manipulations by adults, and this novel helps revive the concept of be careful who you believe, and why.
•Reader’s Annotation
Good read for those concerned about how technology is homogenizing society as a whole, and the implications of being too easily led down a certain path.
•Information about the author
Suzanne Weyn was born in Flushing, New York, in 1955. Her father, Theodore, was a pharmacist, her mother, Jacqueline, an artist. Like Kayla, Suzanne was interested in art, but also theatre and literature all through high school and college. She graduated from Binghamton University in 1977, and became an editor of teen magazines for Starlog Press.
She has written over fifty novels for children and teens, mainly from the science fiction and fantasy genres, and has worked as an editor for Scholastic, Inc. She also teaches classes on expository and business writing for City College of New York, and NYU. She and her husband, William Gonzalez, have been married since 1986, and have two daughters.
•Genre
Science Fiction, Thriller
•Curriculum Ties
Computers, Technology, Global Commerce
•Booktalking Ideas
Dystopian novels, global takeover by corporations, loss of identity, de-civilization
•Reading Level/Interest Age
Grades 9-12/Ages 14-19
•Challenge Issues
N/A/
•Why did you include this book in you’re the titles you selected?
I've always been interested in dystopian novels, and the concept of having to revert to a simpler lifestyle in order to avoid the "machine". When I picked up this novel, I thought it was only another sci fi thriller about the barcode, a concept discussed when I was in middle/high school, as a sort of "what if" concept. That Kayla and her friends ended up in the mountains, and regained some of what humanity might have lost or was slow in achieving due to too much tech, was just an added bonus.
