The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
The summer of 1899 was exceptionally hot in Calpurnia’s sleepy Texas town, but she’s discovered at least one advantage to being the only girl out of seven children–her own room–which allows her to escape the house for the river while the rest of her family naps during the heat of the day. While exploring the natural world around you, she also gets to know her cantankerous old grandfather, whose interest in science and nature mimics her own. At eleven years old, she’s also becoming more aware of the expectations for a girl at the turn of the century, and wondering whether there is a place in the new century for a female scientist.
Kelly’s debut novel is a veritable wealth of fascinating characters. Calpurnia is an inquisitive, thoughtful girl who is more than able to keep up with her six brothers, all of whom are named after Texan heroes. Her grandfather is an excellent mentor for Calpurnia’s scientific queries, although having lived so long in his own world, he occasionally forgets the reality of life for women in the society of the turn of the century. Even so, he treats his grandaughter as an equal scientific partner, and enlightens her to other possibilities available to her. Kelly’s gentle exploration of gender roles and family relationships are thought provoking. Readers will enjoy this sweet, but quietly powerful story.
Going Bovine
Check out this hilarious video of author Libba Bray on her new book, Going Bovine.
Banned Books Week
Check out this fantastic website from the Carnegie Library.
College Workshop
Join us on Tuesday September 22 at 5:30 pm for a fabulous workshop with “SueB” Bracksieck from ENMU. Do you have questions about college prep classes, scholarship applications, and college entrance exams like the ACT? Do you want to know what you can do to prepare for a great college experience? Then come to this free workshop for parents and teens in grades 7 through 12. Imagine yourself in college, and find out what you can do to make it happen!
Winners Announced!
The winners of the Picturing America Essay Contest are:
1st Place: A Byrd’s Eye View by Megan Byrd
2nd Place: A Nation of Choice by Katie Bickley
3rd Place: My America by Jennifer Salomon
Congratulations to all our winners! You can read all three winning essays in this Sunday’s edition (August 16) of the Portales News Tribune.
Digital Fun
Teens had fun playing with digital photography at today’s teen program. Here are some of the results:
No teen programming this week
Hello Portales Teens!
Just a reminder–we aren’t doing any summer reading programming this week, due to the Fourth of July holiday. You can still bring in your reading logs and Bingo cards. We’ll meet next Tuesday (July 7) at our regularly scheduled time of 2:00 pm. We’ll be discussing John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley so I hope you’re all reading! We have several copies in the library if you haven’t read it yet.
The Invisible Man
Book Review by Rachel Sommer
I have yet to learn why The Invisible Man was considered a great “science-fiction” in the early 20th century.
The book is written like a report of some kind. It never pulls you into the story. The novel consisted of way too many characters and scene changes. Not only did H.G. Wells not establish these well enough, but he also liked very long run-on sentences. Here’s the first sentence: “The stranger came early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow, the last snowfall of the year, over the down, walking as it seemed from Bramblehurst Railway Station, and carrying a little black portmanteau in his thickly gloved hand.”
The Invisible Man himself had controlling issues, which made him hard to sympathize with. From the fire he requests (more like demands) for in Chapter One, to forcing a character to do whatever he wants to threatening the same character with death!
It was confusing how the Invisible Man became invisible. He was an albino who was obsessed with the transparent genes in animals and paper. One day, he decided to try to make an invisible formula. It worked, although, he didn’t like being invisible, so he went insane. He was killed in the end.
Overall, the novel was boring, complex, long and is not the best sci-fi you could read. In fact, it’s the worst thing you could ever want to read. I rate the novel one and a half stars.
