A New Nation

Nation, by Terry Pratchett (2008)

This semester I am taking a young adult literature class, which means my shelves are currently filled with YA books. Nation was the first book on the reading list. So read it, I did!

We meet Mau, who is setting off from Boy’s Island in the canoe he recently made. He is on his way home where everyone in the Nation will be there to greet him and celebrate his transition into Manhood. But on his journey, he is swept into the largest wave he’s ever seen and is thrown off course. When he finally arrives to his island home, all he is greeted by are smashed huts and lifeless bodies. His entire Nation has been destroyed by the giant wave.

After he tends to all the dead villagers in a comatose haze, by taking them out to sea where their spirits will turn into dolphins until they are called back to human form, he explores the rest of his Nation to find a huge ship, much bigger than any canoe he’s ever seen.

On the ship is Ermintrude, daughter to a prominent man who was made governor of colony halfway around the world. On her way out to meet her father, Ermintrude’s ship is caught by the wave and thrown onto the Nation. All of the crew perished, but Ermintrude, hiding in her cabin, survived the crash.

And here on the Nation, Ermintrude and Mau find each other. Through pantomime and drawing the sand, they learn to communicate. Soon, others from neighboring islands show up, hoping that the Nation fared better than their own, only to find a “ghost girl” and a boy/man as the chief.  But together, Mau, Daphne (Ermintrude’s new name for herself), and the others rebuild the Nation.

A combination of humorous interaction, spiritual reflection, and deep shared sadness, Nation is one of my new favorite books. A good start to the semester, I’d say.

Three stars.

A nod to Darwin

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly (2009)

“One day I would have all the books in the world, shelves and shelves of them. I would live my life in a tower of books. I would read all day long and eat peaches. And if any young knights in armor dared to come calling on their white charges and plead with me to let down my hair, I would pelt them with peach pits until they went home.”

This quote was the sole reason I selected this book from the library. My dear friend Shannon had this quote in her facebook status, and upon seeing in my Newsfeed, I thought, “I NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.” Something about mountains of books and peaches and no boys allowed really appealed to me. The fact that it was a Newbery Honor book was just an added bonus. (Incidentally I made a goal this summer of reading all the Newbery winners from the last 25 years, at least. I doubt that I need to tell you that that list is going well…)

Calpurnia Virginia Tate, known as Callie Vee to her family and friends, is eleven years old the summer of 1899 in Texas, where she lives with her mother, father, six brothers, and grandfather. After her oldest brother Harry gives her a notebook to track her scientific observations, Callie notices that there are two distinct types of grasshoppers in the yard that summer. Though she asks everyone she can find why this might be, no one has an answer for her. Finally, she decides the only thing to be done is to ask Grandfather,  a man who keeps to himself and very rarely speaks to anyone. But Callie’s interest in nature captures Grandfather’s interest, and soon they spend almost all their time together, tracking plants, bugs, animals, and microscopic organisms, much to everyone’s confusion.

After all, a preteen girl at the turn of the twentieth century should be learning to cook, practicing her knitting, and preparing to become a wife, not tromping through bushes and streams with a grumpy old man.

And this is the major conflict of EoCT. Can a young Texan woman in 1899 be a scientist, or is she bound solely  for wifedom/motherdom?

There are three main things I like about this book:

1. It’s about science without being science fiction (not that I don’t like science fiction, but there are very few science/non-science-fiction novels for kids/YA out there).

2. Callie Vee’s voice is fresh, often hilarious, and really rings true.

3. The ending isn’t tied up in a little bow. It’s complicated. And unresolved. And real.

Although there was a lot that I liked, at times it was a bit slow and predictable. 2 stars.