I have another jewel of a book to share with you. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly. It turns out to also be a Newbery Honor Winner.
Set in 1899 in a small town not too many days journey from Austin, Texas, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a coming of age story about the pain of having no easy social place for who you are and what you want in life. It’s also about the precious and rare thing of having someone recognize you for who you truly are.
The Tate family is likely the closest thing this small town has to an oligarch—owning, as they do, the town’s center of commerce: the cotton gin. After spending 30+ years establishing the family business, Grandfather Tate has retired to do what he loves—pursue science. Limiting his family appearances to the obligatory attendance at dinner, Grandfather Tate’s days are spent collecting specimens and commanding his domain of the family library and the old slave’s quarters shed turned laboratory.
Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old, the only girl among seven children, and a naturalist in the making. Afraid of Grandfather Tate, she thinks he doesn’t even know her name. When her interest in obtaining Darwin’s book, The Origin of Species, leads her to connect with her grandfather, the flame of kindred souls ignites.
A summer of blissful collecting, observing, and experimenting follows—a whole new world of thought and ideas opens—a sparkling, beckoning doorway. In school, after all, she is only learning reading, writing, arithmetic, and deportment.
When Calpurnia’s mother takes her under her wing in preparation for becoming a young lady, imposing a schedule of domestic arts, Calpurnia begins to lose what she loves—both her pursuit of science and her precious time with her grandfather.
This jewel of a book captures an unusual year with unique sensitivity and wit. It also brings central Texas in the late 1800’s to sparkling life, and most of all, it extends Calpurnia’s most important relationships and makes them shine.
Calpurnia Tate is definitely blazing a trail for girls! She and Piper Pan share an ability to persist, to see things with fresh eyes, and a passion for what they hold dear.