Book Review: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

During an independent study meeting, my college professor plucked from her bookshelf The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and gave it to me to take home and read in response to our discussion of the importance of working literature into science classes. Once Spring Quarter was over and I had a moment to breathe, I read both The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.



If you aren’t familiar, Lee wrote a story from the perspective of a young girl about familial struggles as her father (Atticus Finch) defends a black man for raping a white woman in a small Alabama town in the 1920’s. To Kill a Mockingbird is quoted by the New York Times as having “an extraordinary impact on American society” and is “one of the best-selling novels of all time.” Kelly tells a story of a Southern farming family in in the early 20^th century whose patriarch establishes his family and then becomes one of the first naturalists. This story is also told from the perspective of a young girl who becomes her Grandfather’s apprentice. The pair discovers a new species of plant and the whole town becomes invested in the saga of the naturalist and his granddaughter.  I found both novels to be remarkably similar in both style and message. Although I feel that all high schoolers’ should ultimately read both books, If I had to choose, I would give my high school science students The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate if for no other reason than the application of science to a high school science class.

The science is not heavy or over-detailed but does a great job of providing an accurate presentation of both the history of science and the scientific method. Kelly nuances both the perception of science and the era in which our country began to accept science more holistically, which contributed to changes in gender equality. Each character is developed through family interactions over one year of farm life. What I loved most about this book was the delicate balance between poignant storytelling and the controversy science stirred among the family, just as Lee balanced her storytelling with the way in which career and family are overlapped in intricate and complex ways. As part of my classroom, I hope to either read The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate aloud to students, or assign it as homework and build a lesson plan comparing scientific articles and perception then and now, giving students a broader picture of what it means to be a scientist in any era. 

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/harper_lee/index.html