The Bar Code Tattoo, published in 2004, but taking place in 2025, was a fictional book going into the future and discussing the process of a teenager growing up in this decade. This book was about what happens when a sixteen year old finally turns seventeen. Many teenagers in the book look forward to becoming seventeen and many characters, like Kayla Reed, dreaded the day when they would turn seventeen. The bar code tattoo was a ‘trend’ and had become more and more popular to the students not only at her school, but around the world. It held all the information that there was about the person. Including genetic information, medical past, and so much more was contained in just one small tattoo. The main character, Kayla Reed, ran into a lot of problems throughout the story. One of the biggest problems in the story was that her father committed suicide due to the bar code tattoo and her mother died, going crazy with her extensive knowledge on what the tattoo contained. Kayla Reed ended up alone when her best friend moved away to try and find a place where their family wouldn’t be fully dependent on the bar code tattoo.

The author of The Bar Code Tattoo, Suzanne Weyn, did an amazing job with describing the emotions felt throughout the story. There was fear, betrayal, and even love. These emotions were so thoroughly described to a point where it made the story relatable and even made it easier to understand. My favorite character was Kayla Reed, the main character. Her personality was one that could be related to the most. My favorite part of the book would have to be when Kayla joins a club that is against the bar code tattoos. This specific part of the story stood out to me the most because it showed the strength and confidence in all of the characters involved. The characters were all going against something that they thought was wrong, they were leaders.

This book could be appealing to many readers but would be enjoyed more by science fiction fanatics. I enjoyed reading this book and I absolutely loved how it kept me wanting to read more. Even the back cover was an attention grabber. Everything about the book provoked me to keep on reading and I never wanted to put it down. I would recommend this book to my peers, because of the vocabulary and the time set that this book is taking place in. I felt that not many books are going to be written with the same plot as this one, and it really is a good and interesting book.