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...

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

This wonderful, poetic story is a 2009 Newbery Honor Book - and is one that may divide opinion- I wasn't sure when I started to read it, but was won over as all the threads drew together. I wonder if it would be a good read aloud ?You'd have to read it first and see what you think. It is a beautiful, complicated, sad, unusual story about a dog, a mother cat and her kittens set in the Louisana swamplands in the present and the past... It is a story of threat, darkness, loss, danger and cruelty but also of bravery, friendship, love, sacrifice...

Here is the author's website http://www.kathiappelt.com/ where you can hear the author read a chapter to get a feel for the writing, and also read some reviews (and each review leads you to a great site in itself too !)

From Elizabeth Bird at Fuse #8 :
Appelt in her debut novel has somehow managed to write a book that I've been describing to people as (and this is true) Watership Down meets The Incredible Journey meets Holes meets The Mouse And His Child. If that doesn't make any sense to you it is because you have never read a book quite like this. Bound to be one of those books that people either hate or love, I'm inclined to like it very very much. But that doesn't mean it isn't weird, man. Really freaky deaky weird.

When you reach me - Rebecca Stead

I've recently read When you reach me by Rebecca Stead - the 2009 Newbery (yes, Newbery only has one r I'm embarrassed to discover after years of mis-spelling) Medal winner and it is a GREAT book - funny, sad, clever, endearing, mysterious, complex and thought-provoking, about friendship and time...

I loved it - and I'm not the only one ! Here is a rave review from one of my favourite blogs Fuse #8 by Elizabeth Bird http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2009/04/30/review-of-the-day-when-you-reach-me-by-rebecca-stead/

At the end of her blog post, there is a link to another blog Educating Alice by a teacher who read this book to her 4th grade students (Year 5 / 6) http://medinger.wordpress.com/?s=when+you+reach+me&searchbutton=Go! and also their blog post responses...

This book is available in paperback in NZ
ISBN 9781921 656064

This book pays homage to Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time - if you loved that book you may well love this one too.