The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jaqueline Kelly

Calpurnia Tate is back in her second adventure as a early 20th century girl with a scientific mind. A hurricane has devastated distant Galveston and has brought two refugee's to Calpurnia's town, an older female cousin, and a veterinarian. Calpurnia's relationships with both new residents are complicated, and made even more so as Calpurnia gets sucked into the clandestine care of her favorite brother's unusual, and forbidden, pets. As Calpurnia begins to develop a grudging respect for her prickly cousin's independence and initiative, and the veterinarian develops a grudging respect for her, Calpurnia starts to see a possible path toward her own aspirations.

This book is getting a lot of attention in the review sources.  That is probably because the first in the series (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate) was a Newbery Honor book. If you liked the first book, (which I did) you will like the second.  It is more of the same, with funny situations with animals mixed with incidents of people treating Calpurnia unfairly because she is a girl. In my opinion it is a little too much like the first book, with not a lot of new plot or character development.  But the writing is good, the main characters are interesting, and some of the situations are rather funny. There is clearly another book in the series to come, and I will be happy to read it. (312 p)