Winner of the 2011 Newbery Medal
Storytelling is an art form and Clare Vanderpool is a master artist. MOON OVER MANIFEST reveals its surprises, its connections and its heart with a steady, occasionally hiliarious, rising rhythm. Meet "Manifest, a Town With a Past."
It's 1936 and Abilene Tucker, 11, has just jumped off the train here in Manifest, Kansas. Her father, Gideon Tucker, has sent her away to this town where he once lived and Abilene is curious to find out more about him as she searches for clues about his time in Manifest. She can barely find a trace of him in anyone's memory.
Enter Miss Sadie, a diviner, who sits in her steaming parlor and spins the stories of Manifest from back in 1918. These stories center on a boy named Ned who wants to go off to fight in the War and a boy named Jinx who has arrived in town on the run from the bad luck of his past. Like the people you see as you go about your own life, the people of Manifest have had to overcome their own personal challenges including immigration to this new country and in the year 1918, they decide to gather together to fight for their futures against a ruthless, greedy mine owner. Was Abilene's father part of this battle?
Our tale is woven of the stories of Miss Sadie from 1918, the letters from Ned who is fighting World War I and the 1936 adventures of Abilene and her two friends, Lettie and Ruthanne. The puzzle of Gideon Tucker is made of a skeleton key, a cork , a fishing lure, a silver dollar and a tiny wooden doll all things that Abilene finds in an old cigar box and all things that appear like magic, one by one, in the stories Miss Sadie tells as the spirit moves her. This is a triumph of a story that reminds you of the classics of days gone by and it will stay with you long after you turn the final page hoping for just a little bit more.
342 pages 978-0375858291 Ages 8-12
Newbery Medal 2011
2011 Spur Award winner for best Juvenile (YA) novel ********************
Winner of the 2011 Newbery Award.
The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future.
Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.” Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.
Powerful in its simplicity and rich in historical detail, Clare Vanderpool’s debut is a gripping story of loss and redemption.---from the publisher
