After spending his early years shuffling between foster homes, 15-year-old Danny is sold to a con artist. He and Harley spend years on the road where he learns to lie, cheat, steal and scam others. Read the rest of my review on my blog: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/who-im-not-ted-staunton/ ( )

In August 2008, The New Yorker published a true story by David Grann called “The Chameleon” about a twenty-year-old Frenchman, Frédéric Bourdin, who pretended to be a missing teen, Nicholas Barclay, in San Antonio, Texas. Despite Bourdin’s French accent and his lack of resemblance to Nicholas, the teen’s family welcomed him with open arms, raising questions about their involvement in Nicholas’ disappearance.

This story inspired Ted Staunton to write Who I’m Not. In the book, a nameless and parentless teen has been taken on by a con man who uses him to further his schemes to steal money from unsuspecting people. At this time, the teen has been to so many foster homes and has been impersonating so many different people that he doesn’t remember his own name, let alone his birthday. When his mentor dies in an accident, he decides to impersonate Danny Dellomondo, a missing kid in Port Hope, Ontario. The book details how the teen manages to trick Danny’s family into believing the missing child is back. But by the end of Who I’m Not, you will be wondering who was conning whom.

If it wasn’t based on a true story, I would have thought that the book was too far-fetched and would have dismissed it as too unbelievable. As it is, it turns out to be a fast-paced and highly entertaining story. However, I thought that Ted Staunton followed Frédéric Bourdin’s real life story a little bit too closely, and it somewhat spoiled the book for me. The ending is quite different from what happened in real life though, which is good.

To read the full review, please go to my blog (Cecile Sune - Book Obsessed). ( )

"Danny" has been in foster care his whole life. He has become involved with a fraud artist, and participating in various schemes when he is picked up and brought back into "the system". Desperate for a way out, he steals the identity of a missing Ontario teenager and is reunited with his family.

As Danny is 15, he is coming into adulthood with no sense of who he really is -- he doesn't know his real name or birthday. Danny's stage in life makes the common quest of figuring out who we are much more intriguing.

Since Danny's family accept him on very little evidence, It's also a story of family, loyalty and wanting happy endings.

Well done; good characters, thought-provoking ending. ( )

While it took me a while to get into this story, I ultimately enjoyed this book. The story of a young man who pretends to be a missing teen in order to avoid trouble with the police, this novel is inspired by a true story. There are a couple plot twists that the more skilled reading will see coming, but the story is still suspenseful. The main character "Danny" is well-developed and realistic, though I wanted to know more about his background and who he really was. I think teen readers, especially boys, will like this book. ( )

This book was well written and the characters were realistic. I am very character driven, and I never really connected with the protagonist. I felt bad for him in and think that he was given a crap hand in life, but I guess I want to believe in the goodness of people and the system, and I felt like Danny was cruel to this family making them believe he was their lost son/brother. And because he was written as a realistic teenager i didn't end up caring for him so much that i was able to over look the character flaws. Anyway I guess I read for escapism not realism. ( )