Tangled in Time: The Portal by Kathryn Lasky - OPTIONAL

Tangled in Time: The Portal by Kathryn Lasky, 384 pages.  Harper Collins, March 2019.  $17

Language: PG (7 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content:G ; Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY:  EL, MS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Rose’s life has been turned upside down by her mother’s death.  Now she is surviving the mean girls in her new sixth grade class who are jealous of her online fame as a fashion vlogger.  Her new guardian, her grandmother, is forgetful, except when the two of them are working in the greenhouse.  Something is strange, though, and one day Rose finds herself going back in time to the court of King Henry VIII, in the household of the princess Elizabeth.  Rose has no control over when she moves between one realm or the other, but she does have a goal – to find the father she has never met.

Lasky knows everything about historical princesses and courts – its when Rose is in the past that the book really shines.  Magic, however, is not her strong suit.  Magic needs even a few simple rules and there are none here to regulate Rose’s movements. If they are coming in a sequel, that’s just a cheap trick on the reader.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS