Moon Over Manifest

Moon Over Manifest
by Clare Vanderpool

2011 Newbery Award Book

Tween

Manifest - verb. To reveal to make known.  The setting of this historical fiction novel is Manifest, Kansas during World War I.  Twelve year old Abilene Tucker's father has sent her to spend the summer in Manifest, the only town he ever really called home.  Abilene is determined to learn all she can about her father's past, but she gets more than she bargained for.  By piecing together mementos found in a hidden cigar box, old newspaper articles, old letters written from a soldier, and stories from the diviner, Miss Sadie, Abilene learns the colorful history of Manifest and many of its citizens. 

Vanderpool uses the setting and time period to weave an incredible story.  The book switches back and forth between the present day (1936) and 1918.  I found the plot to move slowly in the beginning, but as the book progressed, I was just as anxious as Abilene to find out about her father and the secrets of the past.  I appreciated the author's notes at the end of the book letting readers know what parts of the book were fact and fiction and where much of the information was obtained.

To hear Clare Vanderpool give information about the making of Moon Over Manifest:

http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=4890&a=1