Has nature ever captivated you? Have you ever thought that something was your favorite and it was all you wanted to do? Now use those two ideas and add on having 9 brothers and a mother who pretty much doesn’t want you to follow your dreams.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a very good book. It is very sentimental because you begin to love Calpurnia and think how could a society be so cruel? It makes you imagine what life would be like as a young naturist girl growing up during the last year of the 1800s. What if your heart and grandfather want you to be a naturalist and your mother and everyone else wants you to be a housewife. Which way to go?

 

If you have ever thought that your life was unfair, read this book to find out how hard it was for girls during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was unheard of for girls to go to college or even have a job other than a school teacher. When the town got a telephone and they wanted to hire a girl to operate it, it was wonderful and Calpurnia was going to pretend she was 17 so that she would be allowed to be the manager (until she notices that everyone knows her and knows that she is only 12.)

Calpurnia is learning so much from her grandfather while her mother is making her knit socks and make food against her will because that was the culture and tradition of the time. She did not want to do these things because she thought they were boring and a waste of time when the outside world was just waiting to be explored. Her grandfather tells her stories about when he was in the army during “The War” and how he needed to knit and cook for himself which comforts her because she notices that even her grandfather who was a naturalist had to suffer through this. Is it really worth trying to keep her path through science, or should she just let her destiny become housewifery? This book is called The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate because she evolves from being an ordinary young girl to being a naturalist in the making. Also, when talking about nature, when a plant changes, it is called evolution.