This book is about a young girl who lives in 1899 named Calpurnia Virginia Tate, but she goes by Callie Vee. She was the middle child and the only girl out of seven children. She lives on a pecan farm with her brothers, parents, and grandfather. Her grandfather is a scientist who mostly keeps to himself, but when he notices Callie Vee has also taken an interest in science he starts to open up more to her. He teaches her all about the nature around them and helps her fill out a notebook she owns with scientific finds and observations. This book is a great coming-of-age story all about the difficulties of growing up and finding one's true passion.
I found this book really interesting and different from most books I have read before. The author's main opinion is that women can do more than just be a housewife or a mother. I agree with this because I think women can be whatever they want to be if they set their minds to it. This book raises issues like slaves, racism, war, poverty, and women not being able to be more than a housewife. It talks about the hardships that Callie Vee’s grandfather had to go through during the war and how Callie’s family is one of the luckier ones because many families in their town are poor and have to work hard to get enough money for food. This is similar to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird because they both bring up topics like racism and poverty and how they can affect a town.
This book really helped me get a different perspective on historical fiction and really helped me understand and see how science and other things have changed over time. I would recommend it to others who are interested in learning a little more about naturalists and more about the time period of 1899. I feel like some people would find it a bit boring, but I found it interesting because it was different from all the other books that I normally read.
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