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mbrandmaier's review against another edition
4.0
It took me awhile to get into, but eventually I grew to love all the characters and feel as if I knew them myself. I also liked the way author's use of language... very creative.
captkaty's review against another edition
5.0
Listened to this on audiobook. Wonderful, riveting, moving. There were a few times I sat in the driveway because I wanted to hear what happened next. Fantastic heroine and some great supporting players.
janelleleigh12's review against another edition
4.0
Moon over Manifest, although not my favorite read because it does not fit my preferred genre, is worth the time. I absolutely loved the way this story was told, with the main character, Abilene, piecing together the past and present in order to better understand where her family came from and where they belong. Great story telling by Mrs. Vanderpool!
becca_g_powell's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was a lovely children's book, and really good historical fiction. The characters were well developed and interesting.
Spoilers Below:
However, I had just read "Turtle in Paradise," and was a little surprised to see how similar the plots of the books are. This one is longer and more complicated, but seriously. In both books, young preteen girls live with a single parent during the Depression. Their parent works low paying and dead end jobs that require them to move around a lot together. Their parent takes a job that doesn't allow children, and the girls are sent to their parent's childhood home (here it's Kansas, in Turtle it was Key West.) The girls don't know anything about their parent's childhood, because they have been reticent to speak about it for some reason. They show up knowing nobody, and have an adventure of a summer making friends and discovering the towns and piecing together their parent's childhood. Both discover who their father is. Once all the pieces have been put together (why their parent left and doesn't want to talk about it, why the town is really so great, etc.) their parent returns, and has discovered that the town really is home and lives there happily ever after with the little girl.
Spoilers Below:
However, I had just read "Turtle in Paradise," and was a little surprised to see how similar the plots of the books are. This one is longer and more complicated, but seriously. In both books, young preteen girls live with a single parent during the Depression. Their parent works low paying and dead end jobs that require them to move around a lot together. Their parent takes a job that doesn't allow children, and the girls are sent to their parent's childhood home (here it's Kansas, in Turtle it was Key West.) The girls don't know anything about their parent's childhood, because they have been reticent to speak about it for some reason. They show up knowing nobody, and have an adventure of a summer making friends and discovering the towns and piecing together their parent's childhood. Both discover who their father is. Once all the pieces have been put together (why their parent left and doesn't want to talk about it, why the town is really so great, etc.) their parent returns, and has discovered that the town really is home and lives there happily ever after with the little girl.
kmcneil's review against another edition
5.0
One of THE best books I have read!! LOVED it!! Brings Richard Peck's A Long Way From Chicago to mind.
Publisher Description
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 Hardcover edition.
Publisher Description
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 Hardcover edition.
bookmarvel's review against another edition
5.0
An amazing book! I like how it was told, even though it got a bit confusing at times because I listened to the audiobook. You really get to know the characters and it all comes together very nicely at the end with some almost tears. :)
surlymanor's review against another edition
2.0
meh. i guess i'll try to finish this one again someday.
did not like the folksy vernancular that rang false in my ears - winning a newbery for a first time children's author set some pretty high expectations for me, and thus I was just all the more disappointed when reading the metaphor strewn wordy prose. Blah.
did not like the folksy vernancular that rang false in my ears - winning a newbery for a first time children's author set some pretty high expectations for me, and thus I was just all the more disappointed when reading the metaphor strewn wordy prose. Blah.
cimorene1558's review against another edition
5.0
Terrific book so far; my favorite Newbery for some time, I think. I love [b:When You Reach Me|5310515|When You Reach Me|Rebecca Stead|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267379013s/5310515.jpg|6608018] to death, but this might be even better. Lovely combination of suspense, history, and growing up in a difficult time (and in a difficult way of life).
kelleemoye's review against another edition
4.0
I have said before that I love me some good historical fiction- I did not have a very good history education, so one of the only ways I learn about aspects of history that I missed is through reading. Moon over Manifest takes place in two different historical time periods: 1936 (The Great Depression and Dust Bowl) and 1918 (World War I), so it is very full of information. I really enjoyed that so much historical elements was put into this novel without being overwhelming- I learned a lot and enjoyed myself while doing it.
The story revolves around Abilene Tucker who has been sent to Manifest, Kansas by her father. At first, Abilene fights the transition at first, but once she finds a box of letters in her room and starts investigating about the two boys in the letters, she becomes intrigued with the little town and things start to come together.
The whole story is beautifully written and so quotable! I did feel that the story was a bit slow at the beginning, but as Abilene becomes comfortable in her new town, the story picks up.
The story revolves around Abilene Tucker who has been sent to Manifest, Kansas by her father. At first, Abilene fights the transition at first, but once she finds a box of letters in her room and starts investigating about the two boys in the letters, she becomes intrigued with the little town and things start to come together.
The whole story is beautifully written and so quotable! I did feel that the story was a bit slow at the beginning, but as Abilene becomes comfortable in her new town, the story picks up.
brandypainter's review against another edition
3.0
Review originally posted here.
Manifest is a town that has seen better days. Although not nearly as bad off as some other midwestern towns during the Depression, the people have lost hope and have little binding them together. Abilene enters this atmosphere longing to find her father's footprints on the town and inquires of the "diviner", Miss Sadie. What she gets is the story of a boy named Jinx and the town of Manifest in 1918. I confess that it was this story that kept me reading the book. Miss Sadie paints a vivid picture of the town and life in small town America in the early 20th century. There were times I couldn't help thinking of The Music Man, particularly as Jinx is quite the conman. The characters of the town in 1918 were real and vivid, if a tad cliche'. It was them I was invested in and made me care about what happened to those who were still around in the 1936 portion of the story. Jinx and Ned both captured my imagination the same way they did Abilene's.
Abilene's story was not quite as enjoyable to me. I never really connected with her character or cared much about what happened to her. She is very much your typical middle grade Depression era novel heroine. Spunky, street smart, missing at least one parent, living in a small town, looking to connect with her dad. This story has been told so many times I am heartily sick of it. I found myself skimming the parts where the story focused on her for mention of the people from the 1918 story and to move on more quickly to the next part of that. It was almost as if her entire function was to be the vehicle for the older story, making her a cypher. Nothing about her was all that memorable.
I enjoyed Vanderpool's descriptive voice and use of language.
Overall I found the book charming and fun. There are not that many books for middle graders that depict the World War I era at all. The fact that this is one separates it from the sea of other MG Depression era novels it might otherwise have been lost in.
Manifest is a town that has seen better days. Although not nearly as bad off as some other midwestern towns during the Depression, the people have lost hope and have little binding them together. Abilene enters this atmosphere longing to find her father's footprints on the town and inquires of the "diviner", Miss Sadie. What she gets is the story of a boy named Jinx and the town of Manifest in 1918. I confess that it was this story that kept me reading the book. Miss Sadie paints a vivid picture of the town and life in small town America in the early 20th century. There were times I couldn't help thinking of The Music Man, particularly as Jinx is quite the conman. The characters of the town in 1918 were real and vivid, if a tad cliche'. It was them I was invested in and made me care about what happened to those who were still around in the 1936 portion of the story. Jinx and Ned both captured my imagination the same way they did Abilene's.
Abilene's story was not quite as enjoyable to me. I never really connected with her character or cared much about what happened to her. She is very much your typical middle grade Depression era novel heroine. Spunky, street smart, missing at least one parent, living in a small town, looking to connect with her dad. This story has been told so many times I am heartily sick of it. I found myself skimming the parts where the story focused on her for mention of the people from the 1918 story and to move on more quickly to the next part of that. It was almost as if her entire function was to be the vehicle for the older story, making her a cypher. Nothing about her was all that memorable.
I enjoyed Vanderpool's descriptive voice and use of language.
Overall I found the book charming and fun. There are not that many books for middle graders that depict the World War I era at all. The fact that this is one separates it from the sea of other MG Depression era novels it might otherwise have been lost in.