The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

My latest favourite book is The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (Holt, 2009). This is the story of an 11 year old girl in Texas in 1899 - the middle child in a family of seven, with three older brothers, three younger brothers, and a mother who wants Calpurnia Virginia - known as Callie Vee - to grow up into "a lady" with all the domestic talents that requires... Luckily for Callie the family also includes her cantankerous (to others) grandfather who is an avid naturalist and together they explore, observe and record the natural world around them. The story is set during a long, hot Texas summer on the cusp of a new century, with the exciting advent of telephones, automobiles and Coca-cola...

This book is by New Zealand-born author Jacqueline Kelly who was raised in Canada and now lives in Texas. Her writing is rich, humorous and rewarding - it puts me in mind of other favourites - they way she writes so beautifully about nature makes me think of Eva Ibbotson's The Dragonfly Pool, the humour is as entertaining as Richard Peck in his historical novels like Fair Weather and Here lies the librarian, and there is a touch of Kate Di Camillo's Winn Dixie, and Sharon Creech's Walk two moons... all good company. I can't wait for the sequel !

And I love the cover art too, by Beth White.

Here is the link to the author's website http://www.jacquelinekelly.com/index.html
and to the Macmillan website http://us.macmillan.com/theevolutionofcalpurniatate which has a video clip of a booktalk, an excerpt of the first chapter and a downloadable discussion guide

The discussion guide includes a feature on some of the vocabulary used and it gives you an idea of the intelligence and depth of the writing. It is well-known that we learn new words from being exposed to rich writing in print - and here is a brilliant example of it..

...pestiferous (pg. 3) moldering (pg. 4) accorded (pg. 11) loitered (pg. 13) dilapidated (pg. 18) consternation (pg. 19) stupefying (pg. 29) begrudge (pg. 37) dragooned (pg. 40) duchy (pg. 50) minutiae (pg. 56) pedagogic (pg. 63) protuberant (pg. 74) feigning (pg. 83) desiccated (pg. 96) jettison (pg. 116) ignominy (pg. 131) tedium (pg. 155) ensconced (pg. 172) prodigious (pg. 197) malevolent (pg. 213) efficacious (pg. 230) debacle (pg. 247) purgatives (pg. 269) odious (pg. 288) feral (pg. 310) surreptitious (pg. 323) gingerly (pg. 336)

Jacqueline Kelly has practiced both medicine and law, before "realizing what would make her really happy is writing fiction". This, her debut novel, was awarded the Newbery Honor Medal in 2010. What a lot of strings to her bow, as the Bagthorpes would say...