Scams!: Ten Stories That Explore Some of the Most Outrageous Swindlers and Tricksters of All Time

The title of my book is Scams. The author is Andreas Schroeder. The book has different stories in it and I think they're all great! There are stories from forging banknotes to Martian invasions to traveling around the world in 2 days. My favorite story is Instand Globe Circling. Just Add Water. This book doesn't make a lot of connections to my life, but the main one is that I lie sometimes to. Scams can teach you a very important lesson which is not to lie. Another connection I have made to the book is that I do things that I think I can get away with, but I really can't. I really like Mr. Schroeder's style of writing. He makes it so you don't know what is coming next. Also, he adds details to make the stories that would seemingly not be funny, really funny. I recommend this book to third grade and up. I recommend it because it is funny and astonishing. L.C.

Some of the biggest scams of all time are presented here in engaging narrative, each story more outrageous than the last. Learn about the discovery of a fake "lost" tribe that even National Geographic believed, the initial radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds and the subsequent broadcast that still causes riots today, a book collector who evaded debtors and sold out his family to feed his obsession, and more. Highly broweable, this is an especially appealing book for reluctant readers. Kids will be fascinated to read about stories in which adults get the wool pulled over their eyes, and will learn something about little known events in history in the process. Sure to be a hit with readers who favor books on UFO's, the occult, or Ripley's "believe it not" type tales, the sturdy paperback is very reasonably priced and sure to be a hit. Students learning about the Holocaust may find the chapter about the Nazi counterfeit operation of particular interest. A sources appendix offers sources for further reading, many from very dated books and articles. Because one chapter note only lists one internet source, this reviewer can't help thinking how funny it would be if one of the scams was made up.