Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest is an exciting and compelling read, artfully told--the story of a depression era summer expertly entwined with an account from WWI.

The Newberry Award winning novel Moon Over Manifest was written by Clare Vanderpool, published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers and was released October of 2010, is a remarkable tale of love of place, belonging and relationships.

Largely inspired by family stories and newspaper articles the story opens with the arrival of 12 year-old Abilene Tucker. Her father, Gideon, has sent her to stay with his friend, Pastor Shady Howard, in Manifest, Kansas for the summer of 1936. Abilene’s discovery of a cigar box full of keepsakes and old letters written home by a WWI soldier leads her and new friends Lettie and Ruthanne into a mystery from long ago.

During that summer, Miss Sadie, diviner and medium, weaves a story of WWI Manifest…a story of immigrants, a coal mine, deplorable work conditions and the Ku Klux Klan for Abilene that chronicles each keepsake. A story of Ned, the soldier who wrote the letters, and his friend Jinx and Shady Howard who definitely was not a pastor then.

Clare Vanderpool lives in Wichita, Kansas with her husband and four children. She holds degrees in English and Elementary Education and teaches a summer writing camp for kids.

Review by Lynnette Phillips, Avid Book Reviews