[Newbery pick]
Abilene’s father, Gideon, sends her away to a small town of Manifest, Kansas, while he works a railroad job. Abilene knows something else is going on, but she dutifully heads off to Manifest, “a town with a rich past and a bright future.” What she finds is a town with many secrets.
Abilene stays with Shady, a man who is a mix of a pastor and a bartender, and slowly begins to unravel the secrets of Manifest in an effort to learn more about her father, who lived there as a young boy and man. When Abilene finds an old cigar box filled with curious mementoes (“a cork, a fishhook, a silver dollar, a fancy key, and a tiny wooden baby doll” [35]) and letters, her curiosity is thoroughly piqued. After having to work for the town’s diviner, Miss Sadie, Abilene slowly hears the story behind each memento and letter, and thus the story of the history of Manifest, a town that reached its darkest hour and pulled together.
In a heartfelt ending, Abilene comes to an understanding of her father, and her father comes to an understanding of her. Moon Over Manifest is well-written and the interplay between the book’s present (set in the Great Depression) and past (during World War I) is excellently done.
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