On occasion of the International Day for the Girl Child - The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

The world has very few women scientists, although the first and only person ever to have received the Nobel  in two different branches of science, was Marie Curie, a woman. It is an unfortunate, though proven fact that there is a decided gender bias against women in the STEM fields of education and careers.

The damage starts early. Gender studies have proved that girls are considered not good enough in math and the sciences. This bias is often carried by female math and science teachers too, unfortunately sending the subliminal message to girls in their formative years, that they cannot do well at these subjects. It becomes a chicken-and-egg situation, leading to fewer girls taking up the STEM faculties at higher levels.

Today, on the International Day of the Girl Child, here is a book that looks at a historically significant period in science- a time when the world was poised on the brink of the new, technologically rich world- with a scientifically inclined 12-year old girl as the protagonist.

pic courtesy flipkart

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Written by Jacqueline Kelly
Published by Square Fish, an imprint of MacMillan
Ages 8+

It is the summer of 1899. The only girl in a family of seven siblings, Calpurnia Virginia Tate (Callie Vee, as she is called) is expected to apply herself to the task of crafting a lady out of herself. Her mother's sole dream for her only daughter is that she be tutored in the arts befitting a lady- music, drawing, dance, embroidery, cooking- so that she would make a stunning debut on their social circuit and land the most eligible bachelor before she becomes 'an old maid of twenty.'

There is a slight hitch in the plan, though. Callie Vee has not the slightest inclination towards these achievements, and is encouraged by her naturalist grandfather in her scientific forages. The only grandchild that matches his interests.

"The laws governing inheritance are quite unknown; no one can say why...the child often reverts in certain characters to its grandfather..." 

The Origin of Species plays a large part in the book. Each chapter begins with a fitting epigraph quoted from Darwin's book. Callie Vee knows of the book, but it is a banned book, and she has no chance absolutely of laying her hands on it. Until her formidable, cantankerous grandfather discovers her interest in, and keen observations of the strange case of large yellow and small green grasshoppers- that she dutifully notes down in her 'observations notebook.'

"He stared at me for a moment with an odd expression on his face- perhaps surprise, perhaps consternation- as if I were a species he'd never seen before...He extracted a book covered in rich green morocco leather handsomely tipped with gold. Ceremoniously, he bowed and offered it to me. I looked at it. The Origin of Species. Here, in my own house. I received it in both my hands. He smiled. Thus began my relationship with Granddaddy."

It was a beginning of a wondrous journey of scientific discovery. The beginning of a dream that showed her the path out of a possible life of drudgery like countless other girls like her. A life that she could not visualise herself enjoying, no matter what her parents and society at large expected of her. The beginning of an old man's dream of at least one among his heirs carrying the light of his discoveries into the future.

This refreshing debut book by the author, Jacqueline Kelly, was devoured and thoroughly enjoyed by the resident 11 year old, who has to often be-labour under expectations from her peers, and sometimes from elders, to conform to stereotyping by her gender. Be that in clothes, interests, behaviour, dreams or priviledge. She applauded with Granddaddy, when Callie Vee ensured that she is paid for her work during the harvest season, not just the boys, and when she stressed on her right to make a choice about her life.

A has loved the book, and has been recommending it to all her friends. It makes a lot of sense to her since she has been doing evolution and taxonomy at school this year. She also identifies with Callie Vee on a more basic level - she has often been the butt of jokes among her peers for being different - more science and literature minded than the average 11 year old girl, not so interested in what is considered 'cool behaviour.'

Here is some talk with the author, Jacqueline Kelly. I did a google-search for contact information, and Ms Kelly responded promptly and graciously to my questions, despite a busy schedule on account of the forthcoming release of a new book.

pic courtesy bookpeople.com

Me: You have a medical background. How and why did this book happen?
Jacqueline Kelly: I prefer not to talk about my medical past, but I can say that I have wanted to be a writer my whole life.

Me: Did the idea of using quotes from 'The Origin of Species' occur to you after the book was drafted, or was it one of the things that inspired the book?
Jacqueline Kelly: The quotes came after I had finished the book. I then read Darwin's entire work looking for appropriate quotes that would best fit each chapter. Some of them fit amazingly well, and some of them didn't. By the way, Darwin wrote the book for a general audience, and not for scientists, so it is an amazingly accessible read. I recommend it.

Me: Why was the story placed in Texas?
Jacqueline Kelly: The story was placed in Texas because it was inspired by a 150-year-old farmhouse I bought years ago in Fentress. The house in the book was my house. Sadly, it was struck by lightning and burned to the ground three years ago. I still miss it badly. I wrote large parts of the book sitting on the front porch as Callie did, waiting for something to hop or scurry or fly by and give me something to write about.

Me: I was deeply moved as I finished the book and put it down. Somehow I was not convinced that Callie's parents had taken her scientific temperament very seriously, and might renege on any support when Granddaddy is no longer around. Have you left Callie Vee's fate hanging like that on purpose? Is there a sequel in the offing that might put girls' minds at rest regarding that concern? (This is something that has been bothering my 11 year old daughter!)
Jacqueline Kelly: I didn't mean to be quite as vague as I apparently was about Callie's future. But fear not, there is a sequel in the works that will make everything clear! I have only recently started it, so I don't yet know when it will be published.

Me: That is certainly we would be looking out for. Speaking of sequels, could you tell us a little bit about your next book, Return to the Willows, that we are waiting eagerly for? I believe it is being released on October 23rd 2012.
Jacqueline Kelly: Return to the Willows was inspired by my life-long love of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, a book I have loved since reading it in bed with the flu' at age eight.
I have loved his book for so long, and his characters have lived in my head for so long, that I thought I would write a sequel as a tribute to him, my way of saying thank-you for creating Rat and Mole and Toad and Badger. (Well, maybe not Toad.)

That makes it three new books that we have on our reading wish-list. The Origin of Species, the full text of which is available here online, Return to the Willows and the forthcoming sequel that will tell us more about what happened to Callie Vee.

Cross-posted at Saffrontree.

Malavika Shetty- the writer of The Sweetest Mango

She is a linguist with impressive credentials. The bio at the place she currently works reads:

Malavika Shetty is currently a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech, where she uses her background in linguistics to teach courses in multimodal communication. Her courses encourage students to think critically about the role of language in the media and in their daily lives.
Malavika received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin. Her areas of interest are linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, and narrative. Her dissertation, Television and the Construction of Tulu Identity in South India, looks at how television can be used by a community as an effective medium for language revitalization and maintenance.

Let me add here, that her particular field of work is one which has often fascinated me- linguistic anthropology- the development and propogation of language. There are a few books at hand on the subject that I would like to share here sometimes. Not really technical books, but easy reads for lay persons like you and me

She is also the author of a lovely children's book, The Sweetest Mango, published by Tulika books. A mouth-watering addition to their wonderful books for children.

As one of the winners of their mango blogathon, Tulika books sent me a copy of the book, and asked me if I would like to interview the author. Would I like to? Of course, YES! They introduced us to each other by mail. Malavika was very approachable and sweet. Even waiting a week or so that it took me to actually get down to sending her a list of questions, which she promptly replied to. Thanks, Malavika.

So here she is, Malavika Shetty, in her own words.

How did you conceive of the story idea?
I have always wanted to write a story about friendship and the close bonds formed during childhood. Also, I love mangoes, so I thought about writing a story about friendship, but also a story that was set during the mango season.

Tell us a bit about your childhood and background.
I grew up in the suburb of Bandra in Bombay in an idyllic neighbourhood where I played all day with lots of children. We went cycling, plucked and ate mulberries from bushes, played cricket and hide and seek…. My childhood was a never-ending summer. I am still in touch with the friends I grew up with and, when we meet, we speak about how much fun we had growing up together.
My family is from a village near Udipi (the village I describe in the book is my village), and almost every summer, my family and I make the trip to the village where there are lots of mango and coconut trees. My summer holidays, growing up, were spent doing exactly what Suma and Jyothi do in the book (except the walking to school bit!). I plucked mangoes from the trees surrounding the house. I ate lots of mango curry.

Did you have an experience similar to that of Suma or Jyothi, as a child?
While the setting of the story is similar to my experience of childhood in my village near Udipi, I do not recollect a similar incident of saving a mango for myself and finally sharing it.

How did you approach Tulika books with your story, and how did the journey of making the book go?
I have always loved reading Tulika books and enjoy reading them with my children very much. I also make up my own stories and tell them to my children, so the thought of writing a children’s book was always in my mind.  I was in Chennai one summer, so I walked into the Tulika office and asked about how I could go about writing and submitting a story to them. I was, very kindly, given an email address to which I could submit a story.  I got back to Atlanta, wrote the story, and sent it to Tulika. I was thrilled when they actually accepted the story for publication.

Ajanta Guhathakurta, the illustrator, is an established name. As I said in my review, "A drool-worthy book, with warm, summery illustrations by Ajanta Guhathakurtha matching the yumminess of the text."  How did you collaborate with her on this book? Check out this interview of Ajanta Guhathakurta by R's Mom.
Ajanta read the story and came up with the fabulous illustrations all by herself.

Your bio says:  "Her areas of interest are linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, and narrative."  Could you elaborate on that? How do you associate that with creative writing?
My research broadly looks at the relationship between language and culture. I look at how language is a crucial component that binds communities together and how it is an essential part of a community’s identity. My training and background is in linguistics, but I use tools from anthropology to look how language is used by a community.
My dissertation looked at how a Tulu-language television station in Karnataka could change the way Tulu is regarded. Having a call-in Tulu TV show gave community members an opportunity to voice their opinions and present different versions of narratives like folk tales and folk songs that have been part of the community’s oral culture for centuries.
Listening to folk tales and folk songs while I was doing my research has been an amazing experience. There are so many stories and wonderful descriptions contained in our oral cultures. These narratives are a source of inspiration for my own creative writing

Tell us some more about the 'mundappa mango' that the story mentions.
The Mundappa is a variety of mango found in the region of Karnataka that I describe in the story. It is one of biggest and fleshiest mango varieties, and, if eaten, when it is at its optimum moment of ripeness, is in my opinion, the sweetest mango in the world. The Mundappa has a distinct round shape and grows to be as large as a coconut. I used to see the Mundappa in trees far more often when I was growing up than I do now. It seems as though the Mundappa mango trees are giving way to other varieties, so laying ones hands on a perfect Mundappa is really a treat.

It is said that it is more difficult to write for children than for adults. What do you say to that as seen from the perspective of your profession, and as a children's writer?
I don’t think it is a question of ‘difficulty’. For me, it is more of a question of what I want to work on at a given moment. Sometimes I find that I want to write something that adults would read. At other times, I want to write something that children might enjoy. While I enjoy my work as a linguistic anthropologist and like writing about aspects of my work for an academic audience, I have discovered that I also enjoy writing for children very much.

Great, that means that we shall be reading more by you. Are there more books in the pipeline?
Yes! I loved writing The Sweetest Mango, and working with the editors and staff at Tulika has been a wonderful experience. I will certainly write more children’s books.

Crossposted at Saffrontree.