Jacqueline Kelly very kindly wrote another book about Calpurnis Tate. In
The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate, Callie Vee, as her six brothers and parents call her, is disappointed to find that life in the year 1900 goes on pretty much like always. She goes on rambles with her scientist grandfather. She makes meticulous notes in her notebook. She is by turns bedeviled and beguiled by her brothers. And she disappoints her mother and baffles her father almost weekly.
Almost every other chapter tells of her struggles with Travers, her wild animal loving younger brother, and his latest "find". The armadillo is a bust. The raccoon is fated for failure, but the coy-dog?? Really???
Then there is the hurricane of 1900 that wiped Galveston, TX, off the map. The barometer and Callie's chance sighting of a strange bird sends Callie's grandfather to the telegraph office to send wires to the coast. Callie has to give up her bed to a cousin she barely knows - a greedy, penny-pinching cousin who has no appreciation of nature. That and the disappearance of Callie's gold piece add up to a recipe for high drama.
In between, Callie runs errands for the new veterinarian, learns how to type, gets even with a conniving brother and deals as well as she can with her parents' expectations for her future.
This feels like a bridge book. I am eager to see if Callie prevails.
MEANWHILE, in San Francisco, Lizzie Kennedy hates her school, Miss Barstow's. She'd much prefer going out on doctor's calls with her father. She loves science but, just like Callie Vee, her obsession is considered unseemly for a young woman.
In
Chasing Secrets by Gennifer Choldenko, there are rumors that plague has broken out in Chinatown. Lizzie's uncle, the owner of one of the biggest newspapers in town, refuses to believe the rumors without proof. But Chinatown is quarantined and trapped inside is Lizzie's cook and friend, Jing. Jing leaves behind a secret - a real LIVE secret. And that secret teaches Lizzie to look at her world in a whole new way.
There are a lot of secrets in this book; secrets that endanger a whole city; secrets that hide the way people really feel; secrets about how to fit in. Lizzie has to find Jing, learn how to be friends with people her own age, survive her first ball, and prove her worth as a nurse.
It all happened in 1900!
After reading and studying Jacqueline Kelly's book, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate the StorySleuths wanted to get to know her book (and her!) better. She gratiously agreed to answer a few questions for us, and to offer a StorySleuths Tip.
Thank-you, Jacqueline!
StorySleuths: There are such rich details in your novel that set the character very firmly in a place and time. We are curious about the kind of research you did to accomplish this.
J.K: Oddly enough, I didn't do that much specific research, because I've always been interested in the turn of that century, and I seem to have picked up details about it like a sponge over the years. For example, I love Doctorow's Ragtime. It's one of a handful of books that I re-read over the years, and it's full of rich period detail. I also got some information from my 80-year-old mother (I'm thinking of the strips of fly-paper hanging in the kitchen, and winding your hair in rags to create ringlets.) A friend of mine just recently gave me a facsimile of the Sears catalog from 1900. It's full of such wonderful stuff. How I wish I'd had it before I started writing the book.
StorySleuths: Following up on the first question, we wonder if the story changed in any way as a direct result of the research you did?
J.K.: Nope, not really.
StorySleuths: We wonder if there is a particular element of writing craft that you struggled with, and how you overcame it.
J.K.: I worried a bit about the level of language and vocabulary in the book, and I was occasionally tempted to simplify some of it. I'm glad I didn't, because teachers and librarians tell me how much they appreciate making their young charges stretch a bit.
So now I say, make 'em go to the dictionary!
StorySleuths: You have done a fantastic job of creating characters that are clear and distinct. We are curious as to whether you had a clear picture of Calpurnia before you started writing, or did she evolve as the story unfolded?
J.K.: I knew just about everything I needed to know about Calpurnia when she popped up on the first page. I could hear her voice in my head, and I knew what she was all about.
By the way, the first chapter was originally just a short story. I showed it to my writing group, and they all told me that I should turn the story into a novel. I was not happy to hear this as I'd never written a novel before, and it all sounded like such a huge project that I didn't even want to think about it. With their help and support, I got through it. I always tell young writers that they have to find or form a critique group that they trust, and then mercilessly mine and exploit its opinions.
StorySleuths: As writers ourselves we often find ourselves going down a path i
