The evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Read this book if you want to get: Historical/Science Fiction
This book is about:
The story of Callie Vee an 11 year old girl living in Fentress, Texas in the summer of 1899, who develops a new understanding of the natural world and being a young girl at the turn of the century.
On a scale of 1 (the lowest) to 5 (the highest) I give this book a: 4
Reviewer: Sarah B.
The roar by Emma Clayton
Since his twin’s disappearance a year ago, Mika hasn’t felt complete. Everyone, his parents included, thinks that Elli is dead. Mika however, is convinced that Elli lives. Convinced that it somehow has a connection to Elli, he begins playing a video game called Podfighter.
It’s hard to talk about Emma Clayton’s The roar without giving anything away! There is definitely a lot going on in the book so far. I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I think it’s because I’m thinking too much about how the stories fit together.
As it turns out, Elli IS alive and being held captive by a man named Mal Gorman. She appears to be an important part of Gorman’s plans but so far, these plans remain a mystery to me. It probably has something to do with special powers both she and Mika have, but I can’t say for sure. I feel like I’m on the verge of something big happening so I’m definitely going to have to keep listening.
BTW, if you want to give this title a try, I highly recommend checking out the book on CD. The narrator does a great job with all the voices!
The sweetheart of Prosper County by Jill Alexander
More than anything, Austin Gray was to be a “hood ornament” in the annual Christmas parade. The sweetheart of Prosper County follows Austin on her journey to becoming a Sweetheart, specifically the Future Farmers of America Sweetheart, thus earning a hood. Step one, (after joining the Future Farmers, of course) is raising a prizewinning chicken. Step two: win the hearts and loyalty of her fellow FFA members so that they choose her for Sweetheart.
I’m listening to this book on CD right now and am on the very last disc. It’s not my favorite book of all time, but it is a book worth reading and definitely a change from the vampire-werewolf-fairy-fallen-angel books that seem to be my usual reading choices. ANYWAY, when I first started listening, I thought the book would be mainly about Austin’s ups and downs as she grooms her rooster, Charles Dickens, to blue ribbon winning potential. (Can you blame me? I mean, come on, there’s a picture of a rooster on the cover of the book.) It is not.
This is not a bad thing (unless of course, you really wanted to read a book about rooster raising, in which case you will probably be pretty disappointed). It’s a book about grieving and growing up and friendship. But mostly it’s a book about liking yourself and being proud of it—a nice message that will probably even appeal to rooster-raising fans.
I haven’t read it myself, but I’ve heard that people who like Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s books: Dairy Queen (our copies are gone but I’m ordering more) and The off season may also like The sweetheart of Prosper County. If you’ve read those books and/or this book and are looking for even more like it, I highly recommend books by Joan Bauer, especially Hope was here.
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Potter, Ellen. Slob. Picked on, overweight genius Owen tries to invent a television that can see the past to find out what happened the day his parents were killed. |
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| Stead, Rebecca. When you reach me. As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, “The $20,000 Pyramid,” a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space. |
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| Taylor, Greg. Killer pizza: a novel. While working as summer employees in a local pizza parlor, three teenagers are recruited by an underground organization of monster hunters. |
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| Walker, Sally M. Written in bone: buried lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. Reports on the work of forensic scientists who are excavating grave sites in James Fort, in Jamestown, Virginia, to understand who lived in the Chesapeake Bay area in the 1600s and 1700s; and uncovers the lives of a teenage boy, a ship’s captain, a colonial officer, an African slave girl, and others. |
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| Williams, Suzanne Morgan. Bull rider. When his older brother, a bull-riding champion, returns from the Iraq War partially paralyzed, fourteen-year-old Cam takes a break from skateboarding to enter a bull-riding contest, in hopes of winning the $15,000 prize and motivating his depressed brother to continue with his rehabilitation. |
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| Zielin, Lara. Donut days. not yet owned | |
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Zink, Michelle. Prophecy of the sisters. In late nineteenth-century New York state, wealthy sixteen-year-old twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe find that they are on opposite sides of an ancient prophecy that has destroyed their parents and seeks to do even more harm. |
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| Kantor, Melissa. Girlfriend material. not currently owned | |
| Kelly, Jacqueline. The evolution of Calpurnia Tate. In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate is instructed to be a lady by her mother, learns about love from the older three of her six brothers, and studies the natural world with her grandfather, the latter of which leads to an important discovery. |
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| Korman, Gordon. Pop. Lonely after a midsummer move to a new town, sixteen-year-old high-school quarterback Marcus Jordan becomes friends with a retired professional linebacker who is great at training him, but whose childish behavior keeps Marcus in hot water. |
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MacLean, Sarah. The season. Showing no interest in the sumptuous balls, lavish dinner parties, and country weekends enjoyed by the rest of early nineteenth-century London society, seventeen-year-old Lady Alexandra Stafford seeks adventure as she investigates the puzzling murder of the Earl of Blackmoor, father of devilishly handsome Gavin. |
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| Morton-Shaw, Christine. The Hunt for the seventh. Twelve-year-old Jim moves with his dad and sister to Minerva Hall where a ghostly voice urging him to “find the Seventh” draws him into a sort of macabre treasure hunt for clues to an ancient prophecy that threatens them all. |
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