Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
9 of 10: Moon over Manifest is sparkling historical fiction, set in a little town during the Great Depression and full of flashbacks to WWI. A great pick for the Newbery Gold.
This one was a big surprise as the winner for the 2011 Newbery medal – most of the major predictors didn’t even have it on the short list (although as a few people have pointed out, it did get three starred reviews from the major professional review sources, so it wasn’t as if it just came out of absolutely nowhere).
I requested Moon Over Manifest from the library the day the awards were announced and it wasn’t even out of processing yet (for some reason, it gives me great joy to be the first person to read a library book).
moon over manifest by clare vanderpool
Abeline, twelve years old, has spent her life with her father, Gideon, traveling the country as he works on railroads and other nomadic projects. And then, after a brief incident where she gets hurt and takes a bit to recover, he ships her off to spend the summer with an old friend of his, Shady, in the tiny town of Manifest, Kansas where he grew up.
The whole thing has left Abeline a little blindsided. She has no idea why her father suddenly doesn’t want her with him and she’s not even certain he’s coming back at the end of the summer to retrieve her (although she will hardly let herself entertain such a notion).
Shady is the interim pastor (when she asks him how long the previous pastor has been gone, he replies “fourteen years”), but he also runs a little speakeasy, since Kansas went dry in 1881, long before national Prohibition. In the room Abeline is staying in, she finds a little box of treasures, the kind of thing a child collects
One of the items is a letter between two boys, Ned (who is in France fighting in World War I) and Jinx, who apparently was still back in Manifest. There is mention of “the Rattler,” who is apparently a spy. Abeline burns with curiosity, but she’s not quite brave enough to ask Shady about the contents of a letter she knows she probably shouldn’t have been reading in the first place.
Then, while working off the debt she owes from the town’s “diviner,” Miss Sadie, after breaking something, she begins hearing stories about the town back during WWI and somehow each of these stories involves one or two of the items in the treasure box. Since she hasn’t shown or mentioned the box or its contents to Miss Sadie, Abeliene is perplexed how Miss Sadie knows these stories.
Between the letters in the box and the stories told by Miss Sadie, Abeline starts to discover that this dusty, dried-up town has a rich history and a previously strong community. But can Manifest return to those better days? And where does her father fit in with this history?
The story of Abeline’s summer trying to hunt down the Rattler dovetail nicely with Miss Sadie’s high-adventure stories of Jinx and Ned. And the two are tied together by newspaper columns written during the war by Hattie Mae Harper, which Abeline has been reading for most of her life (her father kept a large collection of them).
Moon Over Manifest would make a great read-aloud book – the dialogue is snappy and funny, there are so many great stories within the main story, and the cast of characters is varied and wonderful; I’m definitely putting it on my list of books to read my own children someday.
It also is lovely that you have both a female and a male lead, Abeline in the present, and Jinx in the past.
It reminded me a little of Hattie Big Sky, so if you’re a fan of that one (and if you’re not, what’s wrong with you?), you’ll probably enjoy this one. This is what historical fiction should be like.
Copy checked out from my local library. Before anyone else.
oh, I'm so happy you read this..I was curious what you would think! I always love your reviews (just never comment…only lurk)
My only claim to fame in life will be that Mrs. V lives down the street from us and goes to our church…we are all so excited for her!
Awesome! I've never been the first to read a library book, as far as I know.
Speaking of that list, could I get you to post or email me your current list of family read-alouds? And would you also ask your mom to send me her pick of family read-alouds? I don't want to miss any big winners and I know she's had a lot of experience.
Thanks Master Janssen.
I was actually not a fan of Hattie Big Sky (still trying to figure out what is wrong with me ;)) but I still plan on giving this one a shot!
Great review. I aspire to make my book reviews as good as yours.
One of our children's librarians was raving about this BEFORE it won the Newbery. My name is still SOOOOO far down on the waiting list! But from all accounts they chose a good winner. One day I'll actually read it.
I would totally give it a 9 out of 10 as well. After I read it I said, "FINALLY a Newbery winner worth reading!" It's such a great story with beloved characters
Just finished this book. LOVED.IT.
I just finished this book. As an adoptive mother, I rarely enjoy books dealing with adoption because most authors depict adoption so poorly. However, I LOVED this book because of how it depicted the "birthmom" in the story. I won't say more. Commenting further would spoil the ending. Let's just say I would strongly recommend this book.