The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

On to the 2010 Newbery Honor books. This is where I tend to get excited! It has been said that the Newbery Award tends to be politically driven. The best book might not always win. A deserving author of an incredible book might win another year for differnet book when the timing is right. So ... I often find that I prefer the Honor books to the Medal winner. It is unfortunate that most readers would neglect the honor books. They get some of the glory for a year at the most and then they fall into oblivion. This year, I actually like the winner as much as the honor books. The first time in a LONG time that I can say that.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly is a book with a charming cover - sunshiny yellow with a silouette of a girl catching butterflies amidst the branches of a tree. It drew me right in and then slapped me. It is that word - EVOLUTION - that raised my guard. So I'll state here and now that I am a Christ-following Creationist and I have a hard time recommending any book where Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species appears to take center stage. Darwin biographies for children are being published at a noticeable rate and it makes me cringe. I don't have anything against Darwin or his book, but I am troubled by where it eventually led.

While I was reading it, I was really focused on whether or not I could allow my own children to read it for pleasure without instruction. In a world where the majority of the children's books don't even mention church, here is one where church is a part of the week if not more. The family attends as a family. There are at least two churches in town and there is a little bit of rivalry. The greatest rivalry though belongs to Calpurnia (Callie) Tate's Grandfather and the reverend of the Tate's family church. They like to discuss the what The Origin of Species means to the Book of Genesis, but this is never openly discussed in the book, just alluded to. Grandfather no longer attends church. He went for most of his life and he thinks he's been enough. It would seem that he gets plenty of one on one time with the reverend though.

No, this book is about a young girl born in the middle of a passal of boys. She has an interest in science as does her grandfather. And it is Callie who has the courage to approach the grumpy old man who probably doesn't even know her name. A lovely friendship strikes up and Grandfather encourages Callie to keep of a journal of what she observes in nature. He take her on as a kind of assistant in his own wanderings and even in his research into distilling walnuts. Grandfather does let her sample a bit of the brew for her opinion. She doesn't think she'll try the stuff again!

Here is a girl whose destiny is to be a debutante, when she would rather be independent, support herself with her own job, and perhaps go to university. Poor Callie, her mother is so determined that she learn how to cook instead! It was a different world back then, right at the turn of the 19th century. But even I identified with this girl who thought she was different. It was I who sat on the sofa discussing the use of Calculus with my grandfather, while the women folk washed the dishes.