Moon Over Manifest

De: Clare Vanderpool

Narrado por: Jenna Lamia, Cassandra Campbell, Kirby Heyborne

2011 NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER

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.

Reseñas de la Crítica

Starred review, BOOKLIST, October 15, 2010:
After a life of riding the rails with her father, 12-year-old Abilene can’t understand why he has sent her away to stay with Pastor Shady Howard in Manifest, Missouri, a town he left years earlier; but over the summer she pieces together his story. In 1936, Manifest is a town worn down by sadness, drought, and the Depression, but it is more welcoming to newcomers than it was in 1918, when it was a conglomeration of
coal-mining immigrants who were kept apart by habit, company practice, and prejudice. Abilene quickly finds friends and uncovers a local mystery. Their summerlong “spy hunt” reveals deep-seated secrets and helps restore residents’ faith in the bright future once promised on the town’s sign. Abilene’s first-person narrative is intertwined with newspaper columns from 1917 to 1918 and stories told by a diviner, Miss Sadie, while letters home from a soldier fighting in WWI add yet another narrative layer. Vanderpool weaves humor and sorrow into a complex tale involving murders, orphans, bootlegging, and a mother in hiding. With believable dialogue, vocabulary and imagery appropriate to time and place, and welldeveloped characters, this rich and rewarding first novel is “like sucking on a butterscotch. Smooth and sweet.”

Starred review, KIRKUS REVIEWS, September 15, 2010:
“Readers will cherish every word up to the heartbreaking yet hopeful
and deeply gratifying ending.”

Starred review, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, September 27, 2010:
"Replete with historical details and surprises, Vanderpool's debut delights,
while giving insight into family and community.”

Review, THE BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS, November 2010:
"Ingeniously plotted and gracefully told."

Wonderful read...

I loved this book, especially on Audible. Several different voices added to the place and time. Not sure I would have enjoyed it as much in book format.

An enjoyable story

Loved the story and couldn't stop listening. it was a bit predictable in portions, but a lovely story regardless. The performance was well done and added to the enjoyment.

great book

I don't give every book a 5 star rating, but I really liked this one.

Charming story.

Would you listen to Moon Over Manifest again? Why?

Yes I would listen to this story again. The narration was excellent! I would compare this book to The Secret Life of Bees.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a charming story. I like the time period the story was set in and the characters were well done and I cared about the outcome. I couldn't quit listening but I also didn't want the story to end.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This book had a cast of narrators. They were all excellent.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book made me laugh many times and was very poignant.

Any additional comments?

Worthwhile read. You won't be sorry you used a credit on this one.

Good book

It started out kind of weird. It kept me reading to the end though to put it all together. I liked it.