Fakers: An Insider's Guide to Cons, Hoaxes, and Scams

by H. P. Wood, David Clark (Illustrator)

Overview

From the Trojan horse to fake news, scams have run rampant throughout history and across the globe. Some con artists do it for fun, others for profit. . . and every once in a while, a faker saves the world.

In this era of daily online hoaxes, it's easy to be caught off-guard. Fakers arms kids with information, introducing them to the funniest, weirdest, and most influential cons and scams in human history. Profiles of con artists will get readers thinking about motivation and consequence, and practical tips will help protect them from falsehoods. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is—except in the case of this book!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580897433
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	10/02/2018
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	672,634
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

H. P. Wood is the granddaughter of a mad inventor and a sideshow magician. She is also the author of Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet, a novel for adults about Coney Island con artists. Fakers is her first book for young readers.

David Clark is the illustrator of more than fifteen books for children, including Higgins Hole by Kevin Boreen, What's for Dinner? Quirky, Squirmy Poems from the Animal World by Katherine B. Hauth (a winner of the New Mexico Book Awards), and Pirate Bob by Kathryn Lasky. He is also the illustrator and co-creator of the syndicated comic strip Barney & Clyde. He lives in Luray, Virginia.

Read an Excerpt

There’s no way to know when the first scam took place. I like to imagine that one of our prehistoric ancestors convinced another to trade his collection of shells for a “really great cave” just over the next hill. (Spoiler alert: there was no cave over the next hill.)
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Fakers"
by .
Copyright © 2018 H. P. Wood.
Excerpted by permission of Charlesbridge.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: A Tale as Old as Time vii

Chapter 1 Conjurers and Con Artists: Short Cons 1

Chapter 2 Just Trust Me: Long Cons 13

Chapter 3 Step Right Up! Carnivals and the Prince of Humbug 31

Chapter 4 Mysterious Minds: Spoon Benders and Psychics 45

Chapter 5 Who Are You? Impostors 59

Chapter 6 I Want to Believe: Science Hoaxes 73

Chapter 7 Snake Oil: Deception in Medicine 89

Chapter 8 Gideon's Trumpet: Deception in War 105

Chapter 9 Believe Nothing: Mass-Media Hoaxes 121

Conclusion: News You Can Use 139

Further Reading 146

Quotation Sources 152

Photo Credits 157

Index 159

Editorial Reviews

In this lively look at the history of human trickery, Wood takes readers on a tour of cons, frauds, hoaxes, impersonations, and scams. The swindle is as old as history. The shell game, once called cups and balls, originated in ancient Rome. One example of a newer type of fakery, the "long con," is the pyramid scheme, and Wood recounts the scams used by two of its most infamous practitioners, Carlo Ponzi and Bernie Madoff. No book about fakery would be complete without a discussion of P.T. Barnum's many famous humbugs. Wood also reveals the tricks behind such carnival games as the ring toss, ball toss, and guessing games. Scientists have fallen prey to or helped perpetrate such hoaxes as the Rabbit Woman, the Lying Stones, and the Piltdown Man, but a long time passed before skeptical scientists were convinced the platypus was not a hoax. Deceptive practices in medicine have undoubtedly caused many injuries and deaths, but Wood recounts one medical hoax that saved dozens of Italian Jews when doctors in a Rome hospital convinced Nazis the Jews were afflicted with a dangerously infectious disease called Syndrome K and better kept in quarantine. These and more are all covered in lively prose that's delivered with a healthy sense of irony. Clark's full-color cartoons match Wood's tone and are augmented by archival illustrations and photographs. A delightfully revealing look at scammers and their scams. 
—Kirkus Reviews


In nine topical chapters, this volume describes the ways in which people have swindled one another on the street, in their personal relationships, and in the media. Featuring anecdotes ranging from hilarious to disturbing, the book covers quite a lot of territory, from the 18th-century Rabbit Woman of Godalming to contemporary issues with fake news and Internet hoaxes. Although the text seems somewhat dense at first glance, readers will soon be fascinated with the mind-boggling stories of a wide variety of cons, which are written in a style that deftly balances incredulity with seriousness when sharing the bizarre facts and takeaways from each situation. Scattered throughout are short spotlight stories, and frequent footnotes serve to inform and amuse readers. Visual elements include contemporary photos, historical images, and Clark’s colorful, cartoony drawings; back matter includes ample suggestions for further reading, arranged by chapter topic. VERDICT This engrossing read is a solid choice for medium to large nonfiction collections.
—School Library Journal

In a world where tricksters are always in the news, even as the word fake is bandied about indiscriminately, a book exposing cons and making young readers aware of how to approach schemes is essential. Luckily, Wood’s nonfiction title is also an entertaining read, with chapters divided up in ways that separate and link everything from Ponzi schemes to spoon benders to mass-media hoaxes. Any type of deceptive con one can think of is included. Want to know about shell games? It’s covered. War tricks like the Trojan horse? It’s here. Cartoonlike pictures emphasize the fun in funny business, slyly featuring everything from sleight-of-hand hieroglyphs to chunky, pizza-eating rats. Extensive chapter notes and resources, as well as a long index, lend the work gravitas. As the author points out, even computer-savvy young people are easily deceived, and she wants readers to not be “one of the guys and gals getting gotten.” If they take this book as a guide, they should have a head start in preparedness.—Booklist

From the Publisher

10/01/2018
Gr 5–8—In nine topical chapters, this volume describes the ways in which people have swindled one another on the street, in their personal relationships, and in the media. Featuring anecdotes ranging from hilarious to disturbing, the book covers quite a lot of territory, from the 18th-century Rabbit Woman of Godalming to contemporary issues with fake news and Internet hoaxes. Although the text seems somewhat dense at first glance, readers will soon be fascinated with the mind-boggling stories of a wide variety of cons, which are written in a style that deftly balances incredulity with seriousness when sharing the bizarre facts and takeaways from each situation. Scattered throughout are short spotlight stories, and frequent footnotes serve to inform and amuse readers. Visual elements include contemporary photos, historical images, and Clark's colorful, cartoony drawings; back matter includes ample suggestions for further reading, arranged by chapter topic. VERDICT This engrossing read is a solid choice for medium to large nonfiction collections.—Sarah Reid, Four County Library System, NY

School Library Journal

2018-08-14

In this lively look at the history of human trickery, Wood takes readers on a tour of cons, frauds, hoaxes, impersonations, and scams.

The swindle is as old as history. The shell game, once called cups and balls, originated in ancient Rome. One example of a newer type of fakery, the "long con," is the pyramid scheme, and Wood recounts the scams used by two of its most infamous practitioners, Carlo Ponzi and Bernie Madoff. No book about fakery would be complete without a discussion of P.T. Barnum's many famous humbugs. Wood also reveals the tricks behind such carnival games as the ring toss, ball toss, and guessing games. Scientists have fallen prey to or helped perpetrate such hoaxes as the Rabbit Woman, the Lying Stones, and the Piltdown Man, but a long time passed before skeptical scientists were convinced the platypus was not a hoax. Deceptive practices in medicine have undoubtedly caused many injuries and deaths, but Wood recounts one medical hoax that saved dozens of Italian Jews when doctors in a Rome hospital convinced Nazis the Jews were afflicted with a dangerously infectious disease called Syndrome K and better kept in quarantine. These and more are all covered in lively prose that's delivered with a healthy sense of irony. Clark's full-color cartoons match Wood's tone and are augmented by archival illustrations and photographs.

A delightfully revealing look at scammers and their scams. (further reading, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews