The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

I have a special place in my heart for Mrs. Ritter. Every summer she looks through her books and picks out some that she thinks I'll love and that 5th graders will enjoy. I think she recommended this book to me because I love science and historical fiction.

Whenever I read a book recommended by Mrs. Ritter, one of the things I think about is whether or not it would be a good read aloud book. You see, I love to read books aloud. Hearing a story makes it come alive, plus having the shared experience of a book creates a bond between the kids that hear it together.

Right now, I'm reading The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, which is historical fiction and set at the end of the 19th century. (For those of you who get as confused about this century thing as I do, the 19th century is the 1800's.) The story takes place in the years following the publication of the controversial book by Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species. In this book the main character, Calpurnia, discovers how much she loves science. I'm not even half way through the book, yet, but I'm intrigued about how everything is going to work out for Callie because in the 1800's, girls are suppose to be learning to sew and play the piano, not gallivanting through nature or look at organisms through microscopes! Surprisingly, some people still feel that way.

I haven't decided, yet, whether or not I'm going to read this book out loud this year. I might try to get four or five copies of it and have it available as a book club choice, instead. For any of you who are interested in reading the book now, Mrs. Ritter has it in the Park School library; I got my own copy of this book for my Kindle reader from Amazon.

The Green Glass Sea

The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages is one of the best historical fiction books I have read. It takes place at a secret government research site during World War II and combines the story of friendship with the tension of one of the world's greatest secrets, the Manhattan Project.

I was so caught up in this story that I couldn't put the book down, even to feed my dogs -- boy, did they make me pay for that! I found myself continually relating to one of the primary characters, Suze, because she goes through a lot of angst trying to be liked by other kids, and I was like that when I was the age that she is in the story. My older, wiser self kept giving her advice such as, "just roll with it," or "don't let them bother you," or the classic, "just ignore them." Yeah, right.

The final chapter of the book, which began as a stand-alone short story, explains the title of the book. It really made me think about how something can be amazingly beautiful and terrible at the same time. If you love science, math, mystery, or a good story, I highly recommend this book. It's an absolute 10.

To learn more about the author, who lives in San Francisco, go to http://www.ellenklages.com.

Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hall

When Mrs. Ritter first recommended this book to me, I wasn't very excited about it because the cover said that it was by the author of Princess Academy, and I'm not one for -- well -- princess books.   I didn't want to hurt Jane's feelings, either, so I took the book home for summer reading and set it on my end table, where it has been gathering dust ever since.

I picked it up early this afternoon and just now finished it because I couldn't put it down.  First off, it has a map of the make-believe Eight Realms at the front of the book.  This put me in mind of The Hobbit and The Dark is Rising, two of my all-time favorite books.  Also, it turns out that this book is loosely based on the fairy tale, Maid Maleen, and I love fairy tales.  Some of darkness characteristally found in Grimms' tales is present here in the form of magical animals, evil wolves, and shape shifting humans.  The author blends these images with those of the historical tyrant, Genghis Khan, in a way that makes for fascinating reading.

As I read, I was constantly worried about what was going to happen next.  I found myself trying to put pieces of the story together in a way that made sense before the author told me what was going on.  Sometimes this worked and I'd think to myself, "That's just what I thought!"  Other times, the plot would twist and I'd be surprised by what happened; I liked that.

Animals play a big part in this book and, in the acknowledgement, Sharon Hale says that a portion of the proceeds from this book go to Heifer International, an organization that distributes farm animals to needy families around the world.  I admire the way she used her respect for domestic animals to enhance her story and then turned around and donated money to an organization that provides farm animals to people throughout the world because it seems like her personal ideals fueled her creativity as a writer, or vice versa.

This book is available in our school library and I highly recommend it.  It's a 10, for sure.

Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson

   This book is a great summer read for kids between 5th and 6th grade because it takes place during colonial times in Philadelphia, the U.S. capital at the time of the story. After finishing 5th grade, kids have enough background knowledge about this time for the story to make sense.  

One of the things I really like about this book is that it has several authentic components: the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, the battle of the doctors, the first hot air balloon in the United States, the Free African Society, and the popularity of coffeehouses. The author recreates the fear and panic of the situation without going overboard with gross details.

Usually, I take a while to read a book, but I read this book in two sittings because I just couldn't put it down!