A Book A Week: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. Henry Holt and Co. 2009 (Via Brilliance Audio 2009, read by Natalie Ross).

2010 Newbery Honor Book 

Calpurnia Virginia Tate, practically twelve years old, lives in Fentress, Texas in 1899. She has three older brothers and three younger brothers and much to the chagrin of her mother is more interested in the strange new grasshoppers she’s seen around the farm than in her needlework. Calpurnia’s father now runs the local cotton gin, a business begun by her grandfather. Her grandfather, a retired businessman, former Civil War Confederate Captain, and crotchety old man, opens the world of naturalism to her, by including Calpurnia in his observations about the natural life around the farm and letting her read his treasured copy of Darwin’s Origin of Species. In addition to the grasshoppers, and an interesting specimen of Hairy Vetch, Calpurnia is just beginning to notice the importance of her family in the town, and opening her eyes to the advantages she enjoys as a Tate. At the same time that she is noticing the limitations of being a girl and is frustrated by the tasks and options available to girls and women at the turn of the century.

This is a smart, gentle story, probably most appropriate for middle-grade readers. Each chapter begins with a quote from Darwin, and there are hints about the controversial nature of Darwin and his theories at the time. The story is full of new experiences. Calpurnia’s first taste of a new drink - Coca Cola - and first sight of a motor car at the county fair, the first telephone in the town, the still rare experience of portrait photography. The story is not frightening or emotionally difficult, though early in the story Calpurnia’s grandfather does relate a rather grim tale of his last day in the Civil War, a story of the horror of war mixed up with an enlightening observation about a bat. That minor vignette doesn’t change the tone of the novel, but illustrates grandfather’s character, and his absent-minded respect for Calpurnia’s maturity.

Calpurnia’s life feels conscripted by the expectations of her, but there is hope in all the changes that are occurring in technology and society, that her options might also evolve. We do not know if she has any real hope of attending the University in Austin, like her oldest brother, or whether she can be a woman scientist. We do not know how Calpurnia’s life will unfold in the new century, but in that year, we know that she was changed. Knowledge once earned, cannot be erased, opportunity once granted will not be relented easily. And we are left with the reassuring hope that people can and do change, and that Calpurnia will adapt, and find a niche in which to grow and flourish.