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Older School Age
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Written by Jacqueline Kelly
"My name is Calpurnia Virginia Tate, but back then everybody called me Callie Vee. That summer, I was eleven years old and the only girl out of seven children. Can you imagine a worse situation?"
Fortunately, Callie Vee has her own bedroom, which she can easily sneak away to during the hot Texas summer of 1899. While most young girls are preparing for a life filled with corsets, petticoats, and hairpieces, Callie Vee finds herself down by the river catching grasshoppers.
When Callie Vee finds a way to attract earthworms from below the dry ground, her older brother calls her a “naturalist in the making” and gives her a notebook to record her observations. Her own grandfather is an avid naturalist himself, but he is also notoriously cantankerous. This doesn’t stop Callie Vee from asking him why peculiar specimens of yellow grasshoppers have shown up this year.
"I suspect that a smart young whip like you can figure it out," says her grandfather. "Come back and tell me when you have."
So begins this rich grandfather/granddaughter relationship - a relationship that encourages Calpurnia Virginia Tate to explore the girl she is and the woman she will become.
Jacqueline Kelly's rich description of the turn of the 20th century is impeccable. Readers and listeners of this tale will be drawn back to a time where women were still denied the right to vote, and science was a profession for men. But this doesn’t stop the young protagonist from asking the question, "why?" After all, isn't that the flicker that becomes the flame of knowledge and discovery?
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate will undoubtedly become a favorite for those school-aged boys and girls who like turning over rocks with hopes of finding something new.
About the Author:
Jacqueline Kelly was born in New Zealand and raised in western Canada. She now makes her home with her husband and various cats and dogs in Austin and Fentress, Texas. She is a practicing physician and lawyer. This is her first book.
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 Table of Contents
Infant/Toddler
Preschool
Young School Age
Older School Age
Other Books By
Notables
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