Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Quirky blend of magic, issues, recipes in summer camp tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
As the story opens, Cady, heroine of A Tangle of Knots, chooses not to use the unknown Talent stolen by her thieving grandfather but instead throws it, and the jar it's kept in, into Lake Atropos, home to a summer camp near Poughkeepsie, New York. This sets a series of fateful events in motion, and several years later, a group of campers, many with unique Talents and eventually revealed connections to the characters of Book 1, arrives at Camp Atropos for two weeks of fun. Little do they know the camp director has built a thriving business by stealing and selling the kids' Talents and that the magic's going to get pretty strange as it gets passed around. Many of the kids have issues of their own -- absent fathers, hated stepsisters, trying to be your own person (and have that person be someone you like) -- and do some terrible things: One girl caused the accident that broke her brother's leg but won't admit it; a boy forcibly submerges his brother, who's terrified of water, to get something for himself. Meanwhile, down at the lake, there's A CLATTER OF JARS as the stolen Talents seem to take on a life of their own.
Is It Any Good?
A quirky, magical blend for some readers won't quite gel for others as author Lisa Graff piles tween issues and life lessons with Spanish verse, strange powers, and recipes for summer beverages. There also are lots of mysterious connections with the characters in A Tangle of Knots. There's a lot going on here, much of it showcasing the dire effects of misdeeds driven by jealousy, greed, and the like (including theft and violence). And while many of the issues (such as adjusting to a new step-sibling) are highly relatable to the tween audience, the characters who personify these issues (and who, in other Graff books, such as Lost in the Sun, would have the whole book to themselves to work each one out) often remain pretty one-note and cartoonish.
Lots of readers will love the magical treatment of Talents (including silly ones) gone astray, but many will find this all a bit muddled and contrived.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about forgiveness and how at some point we all need it. If you do something that hurts someone else -- even if you didn't mean to at all -- what do you think is the best way to try to make things right?
What do you think of the author including recipes? Does it makes a story better or does it distract from the plot?
In this story, as in others, some magical superpowers are more silly than awesome. What's the most ridiculous superpower you can think of, and how would you use it?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Emotions
- Topics : Cooking , Fantasy ( Magic ) , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship , Animals ( Wild Animals )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Philomel
- Publication date : May 24, 2016
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
- Number of pages : 224
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (abridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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