| Title | : | Skunked (Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1627798684 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781627798686 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 106 |
| Publication | : | First published October 1, 2016 |
| Awards | : | Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Grades 3-6 (2019) |
When soft-hearted Travis discovers an abandoned baby skunk, he can't help but bring him home and take care of him. Stinky, as Travis names him, settles in pretty well. But when Travis discovers Stinky's litter-mate, Winky, who is in need of some help, things get complicated around the Tate house. One skunk is a piece of cake; two is just asking for trouble. Will Travis and Callie be able to keep the critters away from Mother's careful eyes―and nose?
Skunked (Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet #1) Reviews
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You older readers may remember Callie Tate from her Newbery-honored novel The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, but in Skunked, she and her little brother Travis are introduced to the early reader crowd with all the humor and heart of the first story and a considerably thinner book spine. Plus really gorgeous illustrations every few pages.
When Travis Tate finds an orphaned baby skunk in a hollow tree near their Texas home in the early 20th century, his tender heart leaves him no choice but to bring it home. Scientifically-minded Callie has her own opinion about this, but she loves her brother too much not to lend him a hand, even if that means risking the wrath of their domestic-animals-only kind of mother...
I loved Callie just as much in this story as in the two full-length novels bearing her name, and I so enjoyed introducing her to my younger daughter! Callie is an incredible role model who acts passionately in defense of the defenseless, would do anything for her family, and refuses to give up on her dreams despite the opposition of the world. No wonder my 7-year-old loves her as much as I do! -
Wow. Not in a good way.
Calpurnia and her brother love the outdoors for very different reasons. Calpurnia wants to be a scientist, and Travis just wants a pet. But when Travis brings home first one baby skunk and then another, things get complicated! Chaos ensues when Travis brings the cute but lethal critters to the schoolhouse.
I really wanted to like this story and recommend it to my young animal fiction fans, but I can't. The author relies heavily on "crazy" and "insane" as descriptors, which is irritating enough. But the ending scene in the schoolhouse, where the teacher gives a brief lesson on Texas history before being interrupted by the skunks, was even worse.
The teacher in this story completely glosses over the fact that slavery was a huge motivator in the conflict, instead painting it as a brave fight of Texans against Mexico for independence. The author also has the teacher describe General Santa Anna and his Mexican troops as lazy and incompetent, so stupid they took a siesta without keeping watch - and thus the brave Texans naturally won the day. Racism much? (By the way, this exhausted siesta came after General Santa Anna's troops came off a two day nonstop march).
There is no nuance to this discussion, no further resources in the end pages to help young readers and their families have a conversation about this moment in time, no facts - just bias. -
Let me preface my review by saying that I've not read the original Calpurnia Tate middle grade book, so I can't make any comparisons there. I was surprised the kids in this book are more middle-grade age, but perhaps that's because of their ages in the original, so even though I felt the children should have been younger (Travis, especially), I'm guessing they had to be older due to the preexisting book.
The story here is fine. Given all the accolades the original book received, I guess I was expecting something more here. It's also one of those where our narrator (Calpurnia) has a distinctive "voice" and at first I found it a bit irritating, but I gave it a pause and returned to it several days later and enjoyed it more, so maybe it was just me. I think many children will be able to relate to Travis and his love of animals and his desire to care for the orphaned/abandoned baby skunks. If this is a family read-aloud it would provide a good discussion since the children do go behind the parents' backs to care for the skunks and skunks are considered varmint who are destructive to the farms. There are moments of angst when it appears the runt may not survive, so children sensitive to animal peril may not enjoy this series, and some children may feel upset by the ending
The illustrations are absolutely beautiful. Full of personality and humor yet also exquisitely detailed and just lovely as can be. The animals are rendered with beautiful accuracy. -
I'm a huge fan of the original Calpurnia stories, so I was leery of this spin-off for younger readers, but it is delightful. Skunked remains true to the spirit of the older stories while being age-appropriate for the format. Kelly provides an intelligent heroine interested in science as a role model along with heavy doses of humor. Callie Vee and Travis will be fun to follow in the sequels. I can't wait.
The bookmaking here is beautiful, too. The interior illustrations by Jennifer L. Meyer harken to Garth Williams but have a charm all their own. Add this to your gift book buying list.
Update: Longer review now available at
this Bookends Blog post. -
Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet is a new series for younger readers. This first book tells of Calpurnia and her younger brother Travis' misadventures with baby skunks. Travis has big heart when it comes to animals, but lacks common sense. Case in point, he brings the skunks to school because one is sick. Mayhem erupts. These books do a great job of introducing Calpurnia and Travis to younger readers who will no doubt love the two previous books, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate. The author also makes a good point about not making pets of wild animals.
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Calpurnia and her brother, Travis, have a relationship in which they care for one another and like each other, so when one gets into a scrape, the other helps them out. The plot is funny, there is great foreshadowing, no one gets hurts, and, in the end, their parents never find out what really happened--all of which help make a great book for younger (or more gentle) chapter book readers! jp
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I really loved the Calpurnia Tate books, and I was really excited to see that Jacqueline Kelly had made a spinoff series for younger readers. I read this first one aloud with my seven-year-old and we both enjoyed it. You can learn things about animals and scientific experimentation, but it's also fun and funny. Travis is also a total sweetheart.
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I like the book 📕 because Calpurnia Tate is a girl 👧 vet 🧑🏻⚕️who helped the skunks🦨.
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This book is about Calpurnia 'Callie' Tate, a 12-year-old girl growing up in small town Texas at the end of the 19th century. She stubbornly breaks societal norms to learn about science (especially veterinary science), and in this book she must help her soft-hearted brother Travis take care of a pair of orphaned skunk kits.
This is undoubtedly a fun book for young readers, Callie is a fun, bold character, and the misadventure she falls into is entertaining and intriguing.
Unfortunately, this book is a handful of problems for a parent. I hate to be the stick in the mud here, but, so many problems... Callie calls her brother 'stupid' and 'idiot' repeatedly. The two of them handle wild animals unsupervised. I get it, not ideal behavior to model, but it is realistic. My really big problem is that the two of them lie to their parents (and other adults) with no repercussions. YA writers, please, stop. I know you want your books to be centered around your (young) characters without their parents/guardians taking charge, but there MUST be better ways to tell these stories than having them lie and never regret it!
The ending was also a let-down. Travis brings the skunks to school, they escape, causing the teacher to panic. In the midst of the panic the skunks flee and are never seen again. This ending gave me the impression that the writer wanted a big (funny?) climax and didn't know what else would work. It's a weak ending, and lessons that could have been imparted (trust your parents, maybe; or, you will need to take care of a wild animal forever if you domesticate it, otherwise it's probably going to die in the wild) were just swept under the rug in favor of, for lack of a better word, hi-jinks.
I get it, not every book for young people needs to be a morality play, but, PLEASE, try to avoid encouraging the absolutely worst kinds of behavior. -
This will be a good choice for early chapter book readers who interested in historical fiction or who have a genre assignment. Although it's Calpurnia Tate #3, it really serves as an introduction to Callie.
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“Skunked!” is a lovely opening of the “Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet” chapter book series by Jacqueline Kelly, which share the same characters with her middle-grade books about the aspiring animal doctor. The story, set in 1901 in rural Texas, is both heartwarming and full of facts about flora and fauna of the region, and especially skunks.
The main character Calpurnia, or Callie, is a smart 12-year-old girl who loves science and wants to be a vet. She has a Scientific Notebook, where she carefully notes her observations about wild plants and animals, and a collection of bones and fossils that she treasures in her room. Callie is lucky to have two mentors who support her interest in science: her scientist grandpa and the local vet.
Being the only sister to six brothers, Callie is especially close with her 11-year-old brother Travis, who is a softhearted animal-lover ready to adopt every wild creature he comes across. So when Travis brings home two baby skunks, one of which is a runt of the litter and seems dying, Callie can’t say no to Travis’ plea for help. Knowing that skunks aren’t appreciated by grown-ups, the two kids have to find a way to save the baby skunk while keeping this whole adventure a secret.
I was truly touched by the loving relationship between the two siblings and Callie’s readiness to help her brother even at the risk of her own interests.
This heartwarming story with its lovely characters and beautiful, realistic illustrations will be a favorite for all animal-loving kids. -
We had gotten the original two books (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and its sequel) and will NOT be finishing them. I reviewed the first one with some content considerations I wish I had known before my daughter read almost 150 pages.
So it was with a decent amount of trepidation I began skim reading these before clearing them.
Likes: the illustrator, the layout, Travis and his big heart for animals-honestly he's more the desired role model for my daughter than Callie.
Didn't like: Callie and her preference for what her grandfather thinks/science and not respecting her teacher, her mother, others. Negative attitudes toward womanly/home skills (cooking, sewing, etc). Somewhat negative relationship with at least one brother and her mother.
Counting Sheep Book 2: secret keeping;
Who Gives a Hoot? Book 3: pg 12 "bloodthirsty Comanche", pg 28 self name calling "idiot", pg 42 witches scream compared to owl sound, pg 57 "Good Heavens."
A Prickly Problem Book 4: The very first page already had me lowering my opinion of the book with its name calling-big theme about being stupid. The dog and humans. Secret keeping (from her mom) to spare her. Negative attitude toward teacher, name calling multiple times. Her punching the new kid because of his comment about her grandfather being weird and thinking her mean brother and this kid deserved each other.
Not a series I would own, reread, or recommend. -
As the first in a set of "Moving Up" level books that take place in turn-of-the-century Texas, readers meet Callie and her younger brother Travis as they poke around in the natural world surrounding their family's farm.
An awkward first page summarizes some pretty dramatic back-story about their dad & a hired man killing a mother skunk, that should have been directly connected to the opening action, but there was a gap which never got filled.
The sneaking around to hide a new pet storyline has been done before - this one is unique in the setting and the spunky girl naturalist, but not spectacular. Despite the subtitle (Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet), Callie is just beginning her career in this story, and relies entirely on the knowledge of others, whom she readily asks for advice. She is shown as competent, resourceful, quick to come up with a creative explanation (i.e.; a lie) to cover the fact that she's directly disregarding her mother's instructions.
Side characters - mom, cook, local doctor, grandpa, dad - come in when needed and stay out of the way otherwise. Callie's FIVE other brothers manage to stay off-screen the entire time, which is probably about a week overall, which seemed a bit unrealistic in a big family house.
This will fill a niche for historical fiction in the 2nd-3rd grade reading level, but I wish it had either more humor or more action. -
I haven't read the original middle grade Calpurnia Tate book,
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, but I started picking up these first chapter books for my library and decided to read one for myself. I like the protagonist as a young naturalist, her relationship with her brother, the beautiful illustrations, and the idea of the historical Texas setting. I wish that setting (at least the year) had been mentioned explicitly somewhere, even on the back description (I looked at the original book to find it's set in 1899, but this one makes no mention of the actual time). I'm not sure how I feel about the family cook Viola and her use of a very gentle vernacular that I assume means she's African American, although the book never explicitly mentions anyone's race. That feels like the kind of historical detail that, while probably accurate to the time, needs to be addressed more explicitly in a book for young readers. I'm also somewhat disappointed by the lack of characterization of all characters besides Callie and Travis, but that can probably be blamed on the length of the book, its being first in a series (there's three out so far), and it being based on a longer book that has probably done that work. Overall, though, I'm glad to have a historical first chapter book series, particularly one about animals. I love the way love of animals and the desire to be a veterinarian is explicitly linked to nature as a science and not just an obsession with cute baby animals. -
My son is nearly 4 and just getting into read-aloud chapter books, and he loves animals, so I thought I would take a chance at Skunked. I loved The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and I'm so excited about this series for younger readers.
I loved especially the opportunity to introduce to my preschooler son a strong female protagonist interested in science. And while he enjoyed this as a read-aloud, I was really disappointed that the story did not have more character development for Calpurnia, who was such a well-rounded, vibrant character in her two middle grade books. Skunked focused more on her younger brother Travis' obsession with saving helpless animals despite good advice that wild animals are not pets. It really didn't allow Calpurnia's character to flourish or learn at all. In fact, aside from asking for advice on what to feed a runt, she has no interaction with the vet from the middle grade books and really doesn't act like a "Girl Vet" at all; more of a helpless big sister watching her little brother cause a train wreck (or, spoiler alert, skunk spray.)
On a much more positive note -- the book itself is beautiful and the beautiful illustrations kept my 4 year old interested along the way.
I still have high hopes for this series but I fervently hope the future books will truly allow Calpurnia to be a "girl vet" and will focus on her scientific and character development. -
This is the beginning of a nice junior companion series for fans of the Newbery Honor book,
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Though, regrettably, I haven't read the other Calpurnia Tate books, this was a pleasant introduction to the characters, and it might be just the thing to get me to read the other books. I imagine that is what the author and publisher hope will be the case for many readers, and if it is, I hope they are successful. The book is certainly well written and entertaining. I was particularly fond of Calpurnia's brother, Travis, who believes that he can raise any animal he finds around his home. While Calpurnia seems to be the thoughtful problem-solver, Travis is just a wellspring of love and devotion. He sees an animal and automatically wants to take care of it. The grandfather in the story is interesting as well, like a quiet sage. When Calpurnia gets into a jam that she can't handle on her own, her Grandfather is there to offer a thoughtful remedy. Nicely done. The story of raising two skunks is bound to raise some eyebrows, and this delivers on that perfectly. I look forward to the next installment. -
First sentence: None of the terrible things that happened need have happened at all if the skunk hadn't drawn attention to itself by ripping up our garden and stealing a bunch of vegetables. And if Father hadn't told the hired man to set a trap and kill it. And if the skunk hadn't turned out to be a mother with a baby hidden in a den nearby. And if my younger brother Travis hadn't heard the hungry baby crying and stopped to investigate.
Premise/plot: Calpurnia Tate stars in a new series of early readers. (This is not a younger Calpurnia Tate.) Callie LOVES science, her grandpa, and her younger brother, Travis. In this one, Calpurnia and Travis find an orphaned baby skunk. Together they will "save" it. But their rescue mission isn't without challenges!
My thoughts: I enjoyed this one. I like Callie as a character. (Callie also stars in The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate.) The two previous books are for older readers. I'm not sure why the switch in audience, but, I don't mind it particularly. I like the Texas setting. I love historical fiction. The family atmosphere is great. -
This is the book I would have loved in elementary school when I was deep into Little House on the Prairie. Calpurnia Tate is much younger in this chapter book than the middle grade novels Jacqueline Kelly wrote earlier, but she is still the curious kid we love. Calpurnia's Scientific Notebook writings are perfect for budding naturalists, I only wish there were more of them!
In SKUNKED!, set in turn-of-the-century Texas, Calpurnia is confronted with the orphaned baby skunks her brother Travis rescues. It's great to try to help orphaned wildlife, but SKUNKS??? That is an entirely different problem. Readers will love this engaging text and spot illustrations. Be prepared for realistic sibling dialog, even including a little name-calling.
I'd love to see this book paired with a discussion about saving orphaned wildlife and the role of wildlife rehabilitators.
There is also room for a discussion about how birds are protected today and why we shouldn't collect bird feathers, even though we'd love to add them to our collections, but perhaps that is better for older readers.
A great series for budding scientists and a great way to encourage curiosity! -
Besides being spun off from
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (which I abandoned after a few chapters), this series seems to be a cross between the Lulu series by
Hilary McKay and the Maple Ridge series by
Grace Gilmore. Callie's brother, Travis, begins caring for a pair of baby skunks, one of whom is a runt, which sets into motion a series of predictably humorous events. The thing I liked best is that this book does not romanticize animal rescue; Callie and the local vet both point out that nature does not intend the runt to survive, and Callie has a very healthy understanding of the proper relationship between people and nature. Travis's approach is more idealistic, but this is not necessarily rewarded. I'm not sure of the audience for the book, since the vocabulary seemed a little advanced for the beginning chapter book crowd, but I still enjoyed it. -
I’m reading the books I selected for my niece for her eighth birthday. While this one is one of the shorter ones that I selected at 100 pages in a fairly large font (plus a preview of another book), the Lexile level is 740, so in her range but should challenge her a bit.
This is part of a junior series of novels featuring the heroine of the Newberry-winning The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. That books still too advanced for my niece, but this one was in a display of books nominated by kids in Tennessee for the Volunteer State Book Award.
Set in 1901 in Texas, it’s a great historic story for animal lovers. Calpurnia loves nature and science, and reluctantly helps her younger brother when he rescues a pair of orphaned baby skunks. There are what I feel are some advanced words—That is new words to read—throughout, which is probably why it has a higher Lexile level than other books of similar length, such as twitched, plummage, welfare, and scruff. -
Sarò breve ma intensa...
Questo è uno dei libri facenti parte dell'iniziativa #irecuperoni lanciata ieri da me su Instagram e Facebook.
Quando è uscito il suo numero non ho fatto minimamente caso alle pagine del libro, convinta di leggere una storia per ragazzi che mi avrebbe tenuta impegnata per almeno un paio d'ore. Non ho nemmeno fatto caso allo scorrere della percentuale del mio fidato Kindle, così appena ho iniziato ad appassionarmi alla vicenda di Puzzetta e Occhiolino... beh è finito.
E io son rimasta appesa, sperando di aver preso un abbaglio. E invece no, letto in circa mezz'ora e leggermente stranita. Un mix di divertimento e mancanza venuti fuori subito dopo aver chiuso il Kindle, mi aspettavo davvero fosse più lungo. 😂 😂 😂
Ottimo da leggere ad un bimbo, prima di andare a dormire, proprio per la sua brevità e anche la storia simpatica di queste due puzzole che mi han fatto tenerezza. -
Esta colección de libro que continúa las aventuras de Calpurnia Tate son muy lindos.
En la novela nos cuentan cómo ella se descubre como naturalista, al igual que su abuelo con el que forma un vínculo a partir de este interés. El abuelo forma parte de los fundadores de la "National Geographic Society".
En los libros de esta serie, que están dirigidos a niños más pequeños que el libro inicial, quizá de primaria, de 6 a 12 años, dependiendo de si los leen en su idioma natal o si son libros que leen en una segunda lengua, se cuentan las aventuras de Calpurnia con su hermano menor.
En éste en específico, Travis encuentra un zorrillo huérfano y decide adoptarlo para cuidarlo, pero esto trae algunas complicaciones. -
This is an EXCELLENT middle grade series set in the early 1900s in Texas, narrated by Calpurnia who’s the only girl in her family (with 6 brothers!) It’s funny, but also has a great plot and the role of her eccentric-but-scholarly grandfather is unique. He is teaching Calpurnia all sorts of interesting science skills such as observation and using a Scientific Notebook to document her findings. I highly recommend this chapter book series, especially to children who love stories involving animals.
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This would have been right up my alley as a kid. Caddie Woodlawn or Anne of Green Gables for young readers. Read aloud to the kids and they liked it, but don’t think either will pick it up independently. It’s a well-written early chapter book with short sentences, short chapters, and lots of illustrations, but the historical context and vocabulary make it more challenging than it appears. Revisit for L in a year or two?
