This was okay. The mystery here is facts that just don't add up, and why people might pretend to have a different life altogether. Peppered throughout are specific mentions of both San Francisco and 1970s themes: shell-shocked young Vietnam vets, the fight for disability accessibility rights, and the growing popularity of farmers markets/"California cuisine". It still makes me pause for a moment to consider my parents would be peers with Julie's sister Tracy, but time marches on and the youth of seniors today is history.

I wasn't originally going to include the mystery books in my American Girl exploration, but figured I may as well, for completionist's sake. I never actually read any of the old mysteries, and looking at Kathryn Reiss's bibliography it looks like she did novels in the historical mystery line that aren't connected to the doll series- am curious about those. ( )

Julie immediately befriends Carla, the new girl at school, because she remembers what it's like to be new. Carla's life sounds fascinating to Julie, but things don't quite add up. There's a mystery about Carla, and Julie is determined to solve it. When she does she discovers problems, and solutions, too. ( )

I picked up and read this book primarily for two reasons. One: I collect the American Girls series, especially the new mysteries. Two: I love the old school series mysteries (Nancy Drew, Dana Girls, Bobbsey Twins, &c) and the American Girl Mysteries follow that tradition rather nicely.

Prior to reading The Tangled Web, I had only read the first book in the Julie series, and was only vaguely familiar with the events occurring later. Luckily, knowledge of the series is not required to enjoy this book. It takes place a week or two before Thanksgiving and a month (maybe two months) after the events in Changes for Julie, so any major plot bits from the main series have been tied up and are only referred to as necessary in The Tangled Web.

What this book doesn't explain, is whether or not Julie is a credulous, almost naive character in the primary series. She is definitely gullible in The Tangled Web - in fact, it's almost impossible to give any description of the basic plot or mystery without giving away the game, because it's so obvious early on. Of course, the older reader does have the book's title to help out, too. Kids might not be aware of the Sir Walter Scott quote that ends "when we practice to deceive," though, so the author helpfully put it at the end of the book.

So the mystery plot begins with a girl named Carla who is new to school and who right away tells some pretty fantastic stories that anyone except Julie (apparently) would right away recognize as fabrications. For example, when she tells Julie, TJ, and Joy that her brothers go to a school named Maxwell Academy, she is looking out the window of the cafeteria and pauses before saying the name of the school. Immediately, the three friends note the coincidence that they can all see a Maxwell Coffee House sign right out that same window.

Carla continues to make up stories and Julie continues to be suckered in until suddenly, she is faced with the truth that Carla is lying, and then the mystery of Carla's true identity surfaces. Meanwhile, the Albright family is preparing for Thanksgiving with some of the disabled men from the Veteran's Society, but older sister Tracy fears these vets because of their disabilities. This introduces a theme of disabled rights and the work that people did for them in the 1970s.

I can't say that I hated this book, because I didn't. It was a fun read and pretty much exactly what I expected from something in the series mystery tradition. I was frustrated with how Julie was so incredibly stupid sometimes, but I accept that this book is being didactic in that respect, and that it's both a decent mystery and lesson for the target age group. (Actually, I wonder that 9-11 year olds might think that the mystery's solution is too obvious, too, and that the actual goal is for a sense of satisfaction at having figured out the mystery before or at the same time as the protagonist.) ( )

In 1977 San Francisco, Julie wants to be just like her new friend Carla, until she discovers that Carla is either in big danger or telling big lies. ( )