Tangle-Knot, madcap silliness that gets kids laughing and self-discovering

Children are weird little beings that somehow grow up to become less-weird adult, in most cases. They put rainbow streaks in their hair, cut half of their hair to the scalp, let it grow to where it’s a mop-then shave it the next day for dramatic effect. Last year in middle school they referred to the latter one as “the flop”, because it would go from poofy to military within one school day. Tangle-Knot is an illustrated book all about picking your battles, and you parents and educators know what I mean by that. The book features a young girl whose hair resembles more of a Christmas tree laden with lights, ribbons, and leaves, but she’s holding a cat, because of the internet. It’s a silly, over-the-top illustrated book about being your own, unique self until you realize that you’re not that person anymore.

Fia is our titular, tangle, knotted hair girl who is dancing to the beat of her own drummer. When readers meet her she’s happy, creative, and has a mop of hair that looks like a bird’s nest. It’s got lots of nature embedded in it, replete with a bird who has recently taken up residence. Usually, when a bird seeks out a nest it’s because they’ve got something cooking, and sure enough, Fia’s mess of a hair soon has bird eggs in it.

She’s the toast of the town and the hit of show-and-tell at school. The eggs are safely stored and the momma bird comes by often to keep them warm. As the eggs hatch their colors correspond to the ones that were outside of their shells. But, because this is a nest, momma bird has to continue feeding the babies. It’s room service delivery with worms, live music when she practices the guitar, lots of nature television, and absolutely no getting the nest wet, much to mom’s chagrin. As baby birds go, they grow and soon enough the three birds need to be set free.

Momma bird is gleefully watching the babies fly out the open window while Fia is looking a bit sad. The need for her tangle-knot is gone and she’s ready for a change. She brushes her hair, which takes a very long time, and proceeds to cut off the pieces that had grown into a life of their own. Her cat, now that the birds are gone, is welcomed back into the fray, and the discarded bits of ribbons and newly cut hair are reclaimed by the birds, who proceed to make a nest out of it.

Illustrated books, the really great ones have an effortless pace, regardless of who is reading them. Tangle-Knot has that pace. The illustrations are detailed and sometimes use both pages to fully show audiences what’s happening. They’re expressive and genuinely give young readers the impression that they’re reading a story that they could experience. The text in Tangle-Knot is concise and allows readers to infer certain unspoken details about the book’s details.

Moreover, for a book that could’ve been a message book, this is not a message book. Should you allow birds to set up temporary residence in a nest in your hair? Kids this age will question things along the lines of “Could I…..”, to which the wise answer is “Well, just because you could, doesn’t mean that you should.” Tangle-Knot is keenly aware that kids will change and come up with untold cockamamie schemes, and fashion ideas of looks that they’ll attempt to make their own.

All of our parents told us about the rat’s nest that lived on the tops of our heads. It’s the Gordian Knot that our intertwined hair had created. Tangle-Knot simply takes that thought and magnifies it 1000%, puts a bird, then her eggs in there, and sees how it would affect the youth who was hosting it all. It’s a laugh-out-loud funny book that will make ages four through eight roll with laughter. It also might get some of the clever kids thinking about ways to genuinely be themselves, without going to extremes.

Tangle-Knot is by Loretta Ellsworth with illustrations by Anabel Tempest and is available on Page Street Kids.

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