The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Calpurnia Tate, 1)

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a great book for 5th graders and up. The characters are relatable and the storyline is easy to follow.

I loved everything about this book. It was a wonderful story of a smart, resourceful 11-year old girl with a passion for scientific exploration and discovery in a time and place when girls just weren't allowed to be interested in those things. The book was beautifully written--the details and choices of words, down to the names of Callie's brothers and the family's dogs were perfectly fitting. Callie's relationships with her grandfather, brothers and other family and friends were richly described. This book was touching and funny--I laughed out loud throughout the time I enjoyed the book. I plan to recommend this to my book club (all adults) as well as to my teenage girls, though I think girls of all ages would love it.

The spunky girl heroine. She's an enduring character in our middle grade fiction. From 1928's The Winged Girl of Knossos by Erick Berry to Caddie Woodlawn and Roller Skates, historical fiction and so-called tomboys go together like cereal and milk. It would be tempting then to view The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate as just one more in a long line of spunkified womenfolk. True and not true. Certainly Calpurnia chaffs against the restrictions of her time, but debut novelist Jacqueline Kelly has given us an intriguing, even mesmerizing glimpse into the mind of a girl who has the one thing her era won't allow: ambition. It's 1899 and eleven-year-old Calpurnia Tate is the sole and single girl child in a family full of six brothers. She is generally ignored until one day she asks her grandfather a question: Where did the huge yellow grasshoppers that appeared during the unusually hot summer come from? Grandfather, an imposing figure the children usually avoid, merely says that he's sure she'll figure it out on her own. Only when she does exactly that does he begin to take an interest in her. Before long Calpurnia finds herself a naturalist in the making. Grandfather teaches her about evolution and the natural world, which is wonderful, but it's really not the kind of thing a girl of her age and era would learn. Between adventures involving her brothers, her friends, and a whole new species of plant, Calpurnia must come to terms with what she is and what the world expects her to be. Ms. Kelly prefaces each chapter with a quote from Charles Darwin's The Origin Of Species. Now female spunk does not appear out of nowhere. One of the reasons I was so disappointed in the book Red Moon at Sharpsburg was because you essentially had a spunky ahead-of-her-times female existing in a vacuum. You can't have your character say that corsets restrict the mind if they haven't been talking or reading something along those lines before. What's so great about Callie is that she is different because she has been cared for and nurtured by a grandfather that treats her not just as a girl with intelligence, but as an equal. Sometimes this is a comically bad idea, like when he offers her the first taste of a distilled pecan liquor, but often it is exactly what Calpurnia's brain needs. And this book almost becomes a kind of detective novel as you watch Callie take a scientific question (like what the floating creature is in her grandfather's study) and work her way through the problem. With her grandfather's encouragement she soaks up his attention and intelligent conversation and blossoms (after all, she isn't any good at normal feminine pursuits of the time period anyway). And it's what she's blossoming into that disturbs her mother so much. It's too easy to turn a parent into a villain when they work against a protagonist's hopes and dreams. Particularly when those hopes and dreams are at odds with the norms of the day. In this case the primary antagonist in this book is Ca

There is so much to love about this book. I finished it days ago but can't stop thinking about Calpurnia and her family. The writing is gorgeous. Small gems are everywhere. When Calpurnia finds an old hummingbird nest, "fragile and expertly woven, smaller than an eggcup" her grandfather tells her to treasure it, she may never find another one in her whole life. Calpurnia examines it, thinking: "The nest was the most intricately constructed thing, like something built by the fairies in my childhood tales. I almost said so aloud but caught myself in time. Members of the scientific community did not say such things." I'm a sucker for intergenerational tales and Calpurnia and her grandfather are my new favorite pair. He might be the teacher figure, but he learns as much from his granddaughter as she from him. It's fun watching his enthusiasm with the new technologies like the telephone (just one in town but it creates quite a stir) and his lusting after an automobile. The large family and assorted other secondary characters are delightfully realized. Each chapter starts with a quote from Darwin that complements the evolution of the Tate family. Callie Vee and grandpa make me think I should start carrying a scientific notebook everywhere with me, and spend a little more time with my nose out of a book and looking carefully at the wonders around me. You can read the rest of Lynn Rutan's and my review on our children's lit blog at http://bookends.booklistonline.com (use the search box at the top of the page to search "Calpurnia" to get right to the review)

A masterpiece of historical fiction, THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE is rewarding at every level. The protagonist, 11-year old Calpurnia, is the only daughter of seven children living at the turn of the last century in a sleepy Texas town. Calpurnia, who has a keen eye and a native curiosity, wishes to become a naturalist; her mother wishes to turn her into a respectable young lady. Calpurnia's ally is her grandfather, and the lessons he imparts regarding the world at both large and small scales during the summer and fall of 1899 launch Calpurnia towards a promising life. The scenes of family life are vivid - Calpurnia's brothers are each distinctive characters - and sometimes hilarious. The novel's voice is winning; the setting is a rich tapestry of authentic period detail; the plot has charm yet moves with a lively pace. Altogether one of the best books I've read.

My wife grew up in the 1940s and wishes she'd had this book when she was a young girl, because it would have encouraged her to make her own choices, and shape her own life. Even in the mid-twentieth century, many families didn't encourage girls to think about college or careers, unless they wanted to become nurses or teachers. This book is an intimately written glimpse into rural family life at the turn of the 19th century. But it is also an inspiring portrait of a young girl who nurtures her burning curiosity about nature while, under the wise guidance of her grandfather, discovering her own considerable intellectual capacity, and her dream of being a scientist. It will be a great read for any bright, young person, but equally satisfying as a work of literature for any adult. There is charm, wit and warmth on every page, but no fluff at all. Good stuff!