Book Review: Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool

Book Review: Moon Over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool

By Linda Jo Martin

I've read a lot of great children's novels, many of which I loved dearly, but Moon Over Manifest, Clare Vanderpool's Newbery Medal winning debut novel surprised me. At first I was surprised because the main character, a pre-teen girl named Abilene, jumped off a train. There was nobody there to stop her. Her father had sent her away to Manifest, a small town she'd never seen before. Her mother deserted her years before.

Luckily she survived the jump, got up and proceeded into Manifest to check the place out. Her story takes place in the era of the Great Depression, 1930s, in the middle of the United States. She's traveled a lot with her drifter-father, Gideon, and apparently jumping off a train isn't an unusual thing for her.

Soon enough she'll meet her new guardian, an old man who also helped her father when he was young. She's given a room to stay in that she suspects was the same one her father once slept in. She meets new friends, works for a fortune teller, and searches for clues to her father's prior existence when he lived in Manifest as a boy.

What makes this novel phenomenal is that there are layers to the story. Not only do we read about Abilene's story, we also get to read newspaper columns from the World War I years. There's also the stories the fortune teller relates to Abilene while she's digging in the soil of the woman's backyard. Abilene isn't sure if the woman is in a psychic trance while telling these stories, or if she's simply remembering something from her youth.

All these threads of life in Manifest are woven together to create a memorable story that is fun to read and hard to say goodbye to. It is a book that entertains, mystifies, and grabs at the heart. The strange characters Abilene comes across in Manifest fill her days, but she's always longing to see her father again. The sad thing is, she doesn't know if she ever will.

I recommend this book to every child around the ages of nine to fourteen. Also to every teenager or adult who would love to read a great book. I also recommend this book to writers of all kinds. It isn't often that I come across a book so finely layered. I believe writers could learn a lot by studying this sensational novel.

I listened to it, actually, via an audiobook download I got from Audible.Com. It took me a while to warm up to the reader's voice. It was a strange voice, and I wasn't sure it was right for the part. But somewhere in the middle of the book I forgot about the voice and just enjoyed the story. It turned out to be fine. The woman's voice didn't annoy me; it just took a little getting used to.

This novel deserves a 10... but instead it got the 2011 Newbery Medal... as the best novel for children published in 2010. My congratulations go to Clare Vanderpool. The novel is absolutely fantastic and it deserves the recognition it got!

Book reveiw © 2011 - Linda Jo Martin