Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter

Those daring (and often snarky) Gallagher girls are back in Ally Carter's latest spy school caper, Only the Good Spy Young (Hyperion, 2010). 

We catch up with Cammie and her pals in the middle of her junior year at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women (where exceptional means they go to a boarding school for spies). Double agents abound and Cammie doesn't know who to trust, or what to believe.

Like her Cov-Ops teacher, Mr. Solomon. Or his replacement from MI-6, Mr. Townsend. And then there's that cute boy Zach, her maybe boyfriend who goes to Blackthorne, (the boy equivalent of the Gallagher Academy). Even Cammie's own mother may not be telling her the truth. (But what can you really expect when your mother is a spy, and your school's headmistress?)

Such is the life of a spy, even a 16-year-old one.

Cammie, Bex, Liz and Macey team up to uncover the answers to what's really going on in the world of espionage. What is the Circle of Cavan, and why do they want to kidnap Cammie? However, fans of the series may be disappointed not to find the answers they seek in the pages of the fourth book.

Look at it this way, a good cliffhanger only means another book to come. 

4 bookmarks for lots of Gallagher Girl fun.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Confession time. As a kid, I despised History class. Social studies took a close second to math (which I still can't stand). But something interesting happened when I discovered genealogy. With the help of my mother and aunt, I traced my family tree and history came alive for me. I'd made a connection with the past.

Although I now have a soft spot for history, I don't often choose to read historical fiction. Not sure why. But every once in a while I stumble upon a book that sparks that amazement for the past again. Jacqueline Kelly's debut novel The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (2009, Henry Holt) is just such a find.

A 2009 Newbery Honor book, Calpurnia's story takes place in a small central Texas town in 1899. Callie is 11, sandwiched between six brothers in a well-to-do family. As the only daughter, it is expected that she will "come out" into society and make her family proud with her sewing, knitting, and cookery.

Callie wants nothing less.

After discovering she has a mutual love for nature and science with her grandfather, a former Civil War captain and naturalist, Callie receives an expanded education including Darwinian ideas not commonly taught in school. But this is a time when women couldn't even cast an official vote. Callie is disheartened by the expectation that she is to grow up into a wife and mother even if what she really wants to be is a scientist. And nobody seems to appreciate the significance of what Callie is learning from her grandfather, not even when they discover what might be an entirely new species of plant.

Written with rich, gorgeous detail and a warm, approachable tone, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a time machine intertwining science with history, and serves as a reminder about how lucky we are to live in the 21st century. It paints a picture of a gentle time when manners and culture were considered more proper than passion as the dawn of a new century ushered in great changes like automobiles, telephones and self-sufficient young ladies who were not just allowed but encouraged to follow their dreams.

For readers 3rd grade and up. Can't wait to see what Kelly tackles next. 5 bookmarks.