The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

This was an employee pick at Barnes & Noble (my favorite date night destination!) a few months ago, and it caught my eye.  When I found it sitting on the "New Arrivals" shelf at the library (it's not that new, but I'm not complaining), I snatched it up, eager to squeeze it in between two other books I was reading.

For the first half the book I read with quite a critical eye.  The cover of the book has a comment from Twilight's Stephanie Meyers: "It's the oddest/sweetest mix of Little House on the Prairie and X-Men . . ." This totally threw me--there was little or no Little House on the Prairie involved.  But then halfway through the book it started to really grab me.  What a sweet story!  It was exciting, interesting, clean (okay, it had one bad word), and it even had a good moral.  Perhaps what I liked most about it was its potential for discussion between parents and their kids who read it--about how the story symbolizes the choices we make and the tools used by the adversary (especially distraction!).

So while Piper McCloud, the main character, has a bit of a forced accent and seems a bit Pollyanna-ish--hey, what's wrong with that, right? :)

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

I loved the title of this book and the cover, but when I read the summary I wasn't too excited.  However, lest I scare you away, let me preface my summary by telling you that I ended up really liked it.  A quick read--it moved along pretty swiftly.

Callie Vee is a preteen girl growing up in 1899 Texas.  The story takes place in the summer and fall of the year, just before the turn of the century.  Callie, surrounded by rowdy brothers and expected to learn to knit and sew and become a debutante (yes, I had to look it up--I totally thought it meant something else . . .), discovers in her grandfather both a friend and mentor.  Together they study the species of flora and fauna near their home while he instructs her in everything from Darwin to Copernicus, Chopin to Vivaldi.  The title sums up the story beautifully--while Callie is studying evolution, she herself evolves and makes many self-discoveries.

This book was clean--maybe a light cuss word or two?  I can't remember, but I truly enjoyed it (the book, not the cussing).  There were a few coming-of-age things that younger kids wouldn't get--not bad or anything, just scientific things about animals mating, etc.  I would say twelve and up would be old enough to read it.  Kelly has a very entertaining writing style, speaking from Callie's point of view; modern enough that you can empathize with her, yet with enough old-fashioned qualities to set it apart from a lot of the junk being written nowadays.