The Bar Code Tattoo

By: Susanne Weyn

The year 2025 is bringing lots of new changes for America. Currency is no longer the mighty dollar; you earn and spend credits now. There is no such thing as mail. You correspond through the internet and cell phones... there are no longer hard wired phones. It is the new digital age. Recently the Bar Code tattoo has been introduced. Those 17 and older are able to obtain them. They work like credit cards so you can use them to buy things, but they are also embedded with information like your drivers license, medical information doctors may need... pretty much everything about you is with you... always.

Kayla is about to turn 17 and is conflicted about the tattoo... does she really want to be permanently labeled and tracked all of her life? Her conflict becomes even greater after a family member's suicide. Her mother hints that it was connected to the bar code tattoo, but won't reveal more than that to her.

Around the same time Kayla is introduced to a group called Decode. They are a group rallying against being bar coded. The government wants to make it a law that requires everyone to have a bar code... a law that has already been implemented in China, Europe, and other countries. But what is so bad about the tattoo anyway? The government has been able to track people for years through credits cards and internet... so what's the big deal? Decode's leader, David Young, argues that America is about freedom and choices... citizens should not be forced to get the tattoo... there should be alternatives.

Kayla and the other members in the group don't believe Young is telling the whole truth... something is weird about the bar code. Many people, including the family of Kayla's best friend Amber, have had nothing but problems since getting the bar code. Kayla, and the other members of Decode, are determined to find out what's really going on... but little do they know, it's far worse than any of them could have ever imagined. Kayla is about to be taken on a journey, and her young life changed forever.

This was a fast and fun read; a perfect book if you've got an evening to kill. There are parts that are a little complex, but the author makes it easy to understand and follow. The whole concept really intrigued me... if you've ever read the book "1984", imagine the world leading up to the world in "1984"; that's what this book reminded me of. It also reminded me of the movie "Red Dawn"; teens coming together to fight for a cause in the face of danger. I really couldn't put it down! I hope the next book is just as interesting.

This book can be found in the Teen Paperbacks Under YA PBK Wey.