A Tangle of Knots

This book is cute and the six-degrees-of-separation angle was interesting. Perhaps for children, how everyone ties together in the end will be a surprise, but for me, I pegged the ending about halfway through the book. The only thing I didn't catch onto was the connection between the Owner and Toby. Everything else was pretty see-through.Perhaps I didn't pay enough attention to the description, but I didn't realize that this was a fantasy. Which made it odd. Aside from everyone having a talent - which isn't too fantastical - only two characters, Toby and the Owner, have magical abilities. This made the book a little off-balance. Also, placing it in a real life setting like New York felt weird, since the book didn't treat the fantasy elements as anything other than normal. So having it set in New York and NYC just didn't seem to fit.My only real complaint with the storyline was how we never find out who or what the man in the gray suit was. I assumed he was related to Cady's mother (what with the knot tying and everything), or Zane's new principal, but it was never clarified. He just sort of appears and either ruins things or helps things out, always talking about Fate and what-not. There needed to be more clarification. As far as story telling goes, it was a pretty sloppy plot line to not finish up.Now as for the parental warning and the real reason this book is only getting three stars. I'm so sick of children's books with cartoony, innocent covers aimed toward elementary and middle school kids sneaking in inappropriate things. With this book specifically, about 170 pages in, the Owner decides to yell at two of the children. In doing so he lets slip three cuss words. Now, in my 23 years on this planet, I've heard much worse, but if you're a parent trying to find innocent books for their kids, they might be upset at finding a book geared for ten year olds having a few cuss words slipped in.Anyhoo, overall it's a cute book. Nothing groundbreaking. It's not bad. It needed some work on the story telling and might not be age appropriate, but it's cute.

Books are sometimes advertised as "great reading for children and adults alike." Not this one. If you're an adult and buy it for yourself, make sure you have a kid around.Because the "fiction/literature" best-seller lists are so dreary and disappointing these days, adults are searching elsewhere for stories. So they troll the young reader list, find an appealing title, and sometimes allow the exuberance of discovery to run ahead of their judgment. That could be an issue here.This is inoffensive material with some language somersaults middle schoolers might not have experienced. The book is about a cake-baking orphan from Poughkeepsie. There's a balloonist involved, along with some suitcases, and bottled (literally) fantasies, and some peanut butter, and some squirrels, and a parent who stole, and a parent who ran, and an episode in Africa, and a ferret, and paleontology and a stroke victim.The thing is, though, it isn't enough for a book to have twists and turns. It also needs to go somewhere. Wherever this one was going, it sure missed my exit.Nevertheless, setting aside personal preference and accepting the likelihood that this book might be more satisfying to a fourth-grader than to an adult, it gets four stars if you're a child. If you're an adult, expect a starless night.

You're either "Plain" or you have a special "Talent" and can consider yourself "Talented." Some of those talents aren't all that useful though, e.g., World's Greatest Spitter, and if you're not careful your talent can be stolen. Reading the book is like biking over a rough pavement: we jump from character to character and scene to scene so quickly that it's sometimes hard to remember who is who and what their talents are. Since there's no time for much character development, and most characters are pretty dependent or their talents for identity, the ability to lose or switch talents becomes disconcerting, although that is pretty well oontrolled.If your kids don't like the story, you can put the book on your cooking shelf, as it includes a number of interesting cake recipes.

I bought this book for my granddaughter, who is almost 10 and a very good reader. We have a kind of a book club, and so I ordered a copy for myself. I found this book to be difficult to follow. There were too many characters and the plot just didn't seem to come together at all until the very end. I had trouble following it, and my granddaughter didn't like it at all. I encouraged her to keep reading for awhile, but by the time I finished the book, I decided that there was no reason for her to continue if she didn't like it. There are too many good books available to spend time on something that's not enjoyable. The story is imaginative, but a little TOO TANGLED!

My daughter and I read this book together after hearing about it on Sirius radio. The characters are enchanting. It held both of our interest. I only wish that my special cake would arrive at my house - - yellow cake with a pineapple filling. The book will make your mouth water. It is magical, and I hope that it is made into a movie someday. So, Disney people. If you actually have Research and Development folks who look through children's book reviews, get your act together and option this book to make into an feature film. It includes all your key elements: an orphan, a special magic, dark characters and redemption!

I initially bought this book from Scholastic. As I began reading it (screening it for my own kids), the beginning was incredibly confusing...trying to keep straight who is who, and the developing plot line.So I bought the Kindle version, which makes it easier to search key words.I have to say, by the end of the book, the author had done a masterful job of weaving the different plots and characters together into a cohesive story that made sense.There are a few untied ends (pun intended). I look forward to the sequel which she will surely write to tie up those loose ends.

As expected, prompt delivery. V good.

Many twists and turns to keep you guessing.