Notes on "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate"

Our chapter book read aloud for May is The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. It has been great fun for the children to hear what life was like for an 11 year old girl in Texas in the year 1899! Here are some "extras" I recommend if you're reading this book and want to add a bit more info.

Chapter 1 - "The Origin of Species"

1890s in women's fashion - a primer
pictures and explanations of the clothing terms

The Tree of Life: A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin
by Peter Sís

it would be nice to also have a copy of The Origin of Species

Chapter 2 - "The Measure of the Morning"

Karl, Get Out of the Garden! Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything
by Anita Sanchez

No Old Maps Actually Say 'Here Be Dragons' - But an ancient globe does.
The Atlantic - Dec 12, 2013

Bird Egg Feather Nest
by MaryJo Koch
hummingbird nest illustration (actual size) in first section, "Bird"

Chapter 3 - "The Possum Wars"

Chapter 4 - "Viola"

Chapter 5 - "Distillations"

book box

How to turn an old book into a secret book box
I would love to do this with the kids!

kerosene lamp (show picture)

Chapter 6 - "Music Lessons"

listen to some rags by Scott Joplin
"The Entertainer" and "The Maple Leaf Rag"

gramophone (show picture)

buttonhook (show picture)

Chapter 7 - "Harry Gets a Girlfriend"

calling card (look at business card)

coming-out party

gig (show picture)

cod-liver oil

Chapter 8 - "Microscopy"

trilobite fossil

International Wildlife Encyclopedia, Third Edition
volume 5, pages 631-633, "Cuttlefish"

walking across the room with a book on your head

microscope (one with a mirror instead of a light)
slides, coverslips, pond water, sunshine

Chapter 9 - "Petey"

The Secret Life of the Woolly Bear Caterpillar
by Laurence Pringle

Chapter 10 - "Lula Stirs Up Trouble (But Doesn't Mean To)"

Chapter 11 - "Knitting Lessons"

a set of four or five double-pointed needles

A First Book of Knitting for Children
by Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton
photograph on page 150

oilskin (look at ocean bottle)

short hoe (show picture)

Chapter 12 - "A Scientific Study"

sun parasol

the children want to know a lot more about cameras in 1899 and glass plates, magnesium flashes, and darkroom chemistry

Civil War Era Glass Plate Photography Demonstration - Rob Gibson
YouTube - C-SPAN
photograph indoors (18 second exposure)

Civil War Photography: Battlefield Live
YouTube - American Battlefield Trust
photograph outdoors (2 second exposure)
this video is excellent

The Chemistry of Light 14 - Magnesium Flash Powder
YouTube - Royal Society of Chemistry
how bright was the magnesium flash?

Taking photos the old-school way | Wet plate photography
Youtube - The Straits Times
a modern photographer offering people an old-fashioned experience

Photography: Wet Collodion Negative Process
YouTube - Royal Collection Trust
more specifics on the chemicals and chemical reations used (making a glass plate negative)

Photography: Salted Paper Print Process
YouTube - Royal Collection Trust
more specific on the chemicals and chemical reactions used (making a paper print)

desk blotter

Chapter 13 - "A Scientific Correspondence"

SWI brainstorm of words in the < work > family

put word sums in Mini Matrix-Maker

Chapter 14 - "The Short Hoe"

A Beetle Is Shy
by Dianna Hutts Aston
boll weevil illustration

cotton boll

Chapter 15 - "A Sea of Cotton"

tally marks

a quarter mile away

Tom Sawyer / Becky Thatcher

Chapter 16 - "The Telephone Comes"

Alexander Graham Bell

owning stock in a company

telegraph / Morse code

telephone operator switchboard (show pictures)

an interesting AT&T promotional video from 1926
Training For Service - AT&T Archives - Telephone Operator recruiting

Chapter 17 - "Home Economies"

rickrack

Rumpelstiltskin

sampler

rhombus

diurnal

Oliver Twist

Chapter 18 - "Cooking Lessons"

A Tale of Two Cities

oven thermometer

Chapter 19 - "A Distillery Success of Sorts"

nitroglycerin

headache powder

Chapter 20 - "The Big Birthday"

yardstick / meter stick

Chapter 21 - "The Reproductive Imperative"

Marie Curie (1867-1934), Physicist and Chemist
The Photographic Card Deck of the Elements: With Big Beautiful Photographs of All 118 Elements in the Periodic Table
by Theodore Gray

Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe
by Theodore Gray

Martha Ann Maxwell (1831-1881), Naturalist and Artist

Mary Anning (1799-1847), Paleontologist

Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon
Jeannine Atkins

Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist
by Linda Skeers

Sonya Kovalevsky (1850-1891), Mathematician

Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians, Vol. 2
by Luetta Reimer and Wilbert Reimer
"The Lessons on the Wall"

Isabella Lucy Bird (1831-1904), Explorer and Writer

Chapter 22 - "Thanksgiving"

camphor / mothballs

diptheria, polio, typhus

Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller
by Doreen Rappaport

Chapter 23 - "The Fentress Fair"

tatting

Angora fiber

Coca-Cola

Duryea Motor Carriage

Chapter 24 - "Harry Woos Again"

Chapter 25 - "Christmas Eve"

stereoscope

Chapter 26 - "Word Comes"

look at vintage telegrams

K P C O F G S
nesting boxes

recall monocots vs. dicots (Three Sisters Garden)

Chapter 27 - "New Year's Eve"

Christmas crackers

Chapter 28 - "1900"

it would be fun to celebrate the end of the book by making shaving cream / baking soda snow!

For more on understanding life at the turn of the last century, I also really like The American Girls Handy Book: How to Amuse Yourself and Others and The American Boys Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It.

It must have been very exciting for Jacqueline Kelly to receive a Newbery Honor for her first novel! There's a sequel -- The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate -- but I have not yet read it. If you have, let me know what you think.

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