Book #5: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Title: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Author: Jacqueline Kelly

It's August of 1899, the hottest summer on record in Fentress, Texas, a sleepy little town south of Austin where eleven-year-old Calpurnia Tate's father runs the cotton gin and she lives with her parents, her six brothers, and her grandfather. To pass the long, hot days, Callie begins recording what she sees in the world around her in a notebook, and her stern grandfather takes her under his wing and encourages her budding career as a naturalist.

Part coming-of-age novel and part feminist training manual for today's young girls (the book is written for a 5th-8th grade audience), Callie must come to grips with the fact that the things that are expected of her (sewing, embroidery, cooking, deportment) don't interest her at all, and the things she loves (exploring by the river, experimenting with her grandfather in his laboratory, reading Darwin, dreaming about college and career) don't fall in line with what her mother expects of a young woman of her station. Perhaps the best illustration of this comes on Christmas Eve, when Callie receives a book from her parents, and glimpses the word "science" through the wrapping paper. She continues to tear open the package, feeling hopeful that her parents finally understand her, but when she realizes that it's actually a book on "The Science of Homemaking" she can't hide her frustration. The book clearly highlights how many more opportunities young women have today than they had a century ago, but probably also acts as a springboard for young girls to see where discrepancies still exist.

Like many books about young girls in olden times (think Little House, Betsy-Tacy, etc...) there's not one single storyline that drives the text. Instead each chapter has its own rising and falling action, which makes it feel even more domestic. It's very well done, written by a woman born in New Zealand and raised in Canada, who is both a lawyer and a physician now living in Texas. One of my favorite things about the book is its cover. The cut paper is intricate and beautiful, even if Callie looks strangely one-legged.