I had just crossed the Illinois/Wisconsin state line, there was nothing worth listening to on the car radio with stations fading in and out faster than the speed limit, so I plotted my exit to the next Cracker Barrel for an audio book and, well, and a “pit” stop. There were plenty of books to choose from on a Wednesday morning, so I hemmed and hawed a bit when a young adult title caught my attention. This was the same Cracker Barrel where I discovered Penny from Heaven, so, heeding the good omen that seemed to be presenting itself, I plucked the book off of the cart, handed over my credit card, and went merrily on my way.
Moon Over Manifest. It sounded a bit like a Ben & Jerry flavor with fewer calories. I have been known to judge a book by its cover. I loaded up the CD player, merged back onto the interstate, and began listening to Clare Vanderpool’s Newberry award-winning book.
Moon Over Manifest is a charming, intriguing, witty story with a great deal of history about WWI and the Great Depression sprinkled in. It is deserving of a Newberry Honor.
Abilene and her father, Gideon, have been living a life of riding the rails, revival meeting meals, and poverty. After Abilene’s leg becomes infected from a scratch from a branch, Gideon sends her to Manifest, Kansas, where she is taken in by Shady, a long ago friend of Gideon’s. Shady is a one-time bootlegger turned temporary pastor who has a story and secrets of his own, and is kind and caring of Abilene and gives her a safe place to live – even if his morning biscuits are always slightly burnt.
Abilene attends the parochial school for the first time on the last day of school. She is given an assignment to write a story to bring to school at summer’s end. Abilene is certain she will no longer be in Manifest then. Surely, her father will come for her soon.
This books alternates between the summer of 1936 and the summer of 1918 and is a story of a hunt for clues and secrets and a child’s journey in finding out about her father and about herself. The hunt for clues begins when Abilene finds a cigar box hidden in her room. The box is filled with old letters, a map, and a spy called the Rattler.
The chapters of Moon Over Manifest alternate between the summer of 1936 and that of 1918. Much of 1918 is told by Sadie, an Hungarian gypsy who reads fortunes, and who gradually tells the story of two boys, Ned and Jinx, and what happens in 1918. Sadie has a few secrets of her own and of the town of Manifest, which is inhabited by many immigrants.
Vanderpool’s book is a bit of a mystery and a bit of history. In Moon Over Manifest, readers learn about life in the early 1900’s, of impending war, the Ku Klux Klan, mining, land rights, trench warfare and WWI, the influenza epidemic and the devastation of the Spanish Flu. We also learn of how these conditions and events had an effect that carried through into the 1930’s and of the itinerant life many led, including children, during the Great Depression. It is not just a book for young reader’s, however, but a well written and researched book for all.
I returned home the following Monday with Moon Over Manifest keeping me company all the way home. It was a wonderful company to steer me back to the Cutoff and its characters linger here still.
Don’t you love it when an audiobook captures your heart? This sounds like a must-listen for me, Penny 🙂
LikeLike
I surely do, Kate. This is a good one that you might enjoy listening to with Maddie, who is such a mature reader for her age. I’m always impressed when I hear what she’s reading.
PS I’ve been humming Winchester Cathedral all morning. Ah, I’m a child of the sixties.
LikeLike
Thank you for another great book recommendation!
LikeLike
You’re welcome, Janet.
LikeLike
I love good children’s literature as you know, Penny, so I checked our library catalogue and Amazon as soon as I read your post in Google Reader. Not in the library, alas, but now in my Amazon wishlist. 🙂 I haven’t listened to an audio-book for a long time as DH and I usually chat all the time in the car or play music, but when I had a long daily round-trip to the hospital for 5 weeks for radiotherapy some years ago, audio-books were my lifeline!
LikeLike
I usually check them out when I’m driving alone, Perpetua, though I used to listen more when I had a drive back and forth to work. It is a wonderful way to pass the time and “read” a good book, especially on a long trip. I’m sure that it made an otherwise unpleasant experience a little easier. Here’s hoping you don’t need audio books for long trips to the hospital ever again.
LikeLike
Sounds like the perfect backdrop for some of the scenery whizzing by, Penny.
LikeLike
It was, Andra, especially as I was passing outside of some small towns, wondering if they were like Manifest.
LikeLike
I will see if I can find this audio-book before the weekend is over! I love the description of both plot and character…you do a great review, Penny! I also have recently discovered a new hunger for WW I era historical context…between Downton Abbey and War Horse, I’ve just realized how little I really know, so this book certainly does appeal to me. I really do need to do more with audio-books! It’s a challenge to keep up with anything these days! 🙂 Debra
LikeLike
That is so kind of you to say, Debra. Thank you. So much of what happened in WWI impacted so much of the rest of the 20th Century. I’m coming late to a similar hunger about that era. I find that if I’m in the car a great deal, especially while on a long car ride, that audio books are such a wonderful way to enjoy a book. I don’t do well with them while gardening or cleaning, however. I hope you enjoy this book.
LikeLike
This sounds like my cup of tea. I will look for it next time I am at the library or at school. I love the idea of the well researched historical context.
LikeLike
I think this is one cup of tea you will enjoy, Janet. It’s a 2011 Newberry, so the library or schools should have it. My grandmother, my mom’s mom, almost died in the influenza epidemic in 1918. How horrible it must have been for everyone. At any rate, I hope you get a chance to read it. I think you will like Abilene.
LikeLike
What a great way to make a long journey pleasant. I don’t know this one, but it sounds like a good read (listen)
LikeLike
It certainly helped me pass the time, Juliet. I really was attracted to the cover at first, then saw it was a Newberry winner, which is quite an honor in children’s literature.
LikeLike
It sounds really wonderful. My favorite category of kid books is that ‘juvenile’ designation. I find the ‘young adults’ too issue oriented sometimes. But oh, those for younger readers are often just terrific. And this seems like one of them.
LikeLike
I just read what you wrote about your grandmother and the flu epidemic. I wonder if you’ve read Asleep by Molly Caldwell Crosby. I have it on my Kindle but haven’t read it yet. I saw her on Book TV a while back, and it is a fascinating subject.
LikeLike
It is a wonderful book, Nan. I think this is categorized as young adult, but I do think you would enjoy it. I love juvenile books and most often gravitate to them as well.
I haven’t read Asleep. When I saw your second comment, I went a-googling and found Crosby on Book TV via YouTube. I’m intrigued. My grandmother went on to have four more children and lived to be 81, but, there was a relative, a contemporary of Grandma’s, who served in WWI and was put in an asylum for the insane. I wish I had asked more questions of my mom when I could.
I would be interested to hear what you think about Asleep when you get to it.
LikeLike
Dear Penny,
Thank you for recommending another book. I trust your recommendations. You’ve never led me down a brambled path. Today I went to the library to pick up the books waiting for me. Among them was 75th anniversary edition of “LIttle House in the Woods.” I’m so eager to read it.
By the way, if you enjoyed reading a novel that took place–at least part of it–during WWI, you might like the adult novels by Jacqueline Winspear–the Maisie Dobbs series. The first book in the series of 8 or 9 books is entitled “Maisie Dobbs.” That book will take you into the upstairs/downstairs of a home like Downton Abbey.
Peace.
LikeLike
You are quite welcome, Dee. I hope this one won’t disappoint you. You will breeze through “Little House in the Woods” then onto to the other Little House books, which are each wonderful. As the Ingalls get ready to cross Lake Pepin, you will perhaps realize that this wasn’t all that far from Stillwater, as I believe it is a large widening of the Mississippi.
I don’t know the Maisie Dobbs series, Dee, but will put the author on my list and be looking for this series, starting with “Maisie Dobbs”. It sounds like something I would enjoy. Thank you.
LikeLike
Dee, our interlibrary loan system has Maisie Dobbs and the series scattered about. I will be checking them out sometime in the near future. Thank you, again.
LikeLike
May I too say thank-you to you, Dee, for this recommendation? I’ve just checked our library catalogue and they have a number of the titles, which sound like just my idea of good light reading. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks for the recommendation. This was a truly amazing book.
LikeLike
I just noticed that I never responded to your comment. Apologies abound. It was a good book.
LikeLike