Moon Over Manifest is actually Emily's book, not mine. I borrowed it from her so that I could read something different from what I had been reading (you know, mostly books about Vampires and Werewolves). I am so glad that I snatched this book off of her shelf. It was fabulous! It even won a Newberry, which is fantastic for this first time author!
The book takes place in Manifest, Kansas during the years of 1918 and 1936. The chapters switch back and forth between 1918 (flashbacks) and 1936 (present time, for the book). The author also includes articles from the local paper and letters written from men overseas during the war. I loved the changes from one chapter to the next--it certainly kept things interesting as I was reading! The main character is Abilene Tucker, who has been sent to Manifest, alone, by her dad, Gideon. Abilene and a few friends spend the majority of the book trying to uncover a mystery, which I shall leave for you to uncover as you read, if you so chose to do so. If you are reading this and you teach 7th grade Social Studies in Virginia, this is a good book for you and your students. The events mentioned in the book (moving west, immigration, war) are exactly what Abigail is learning in her SS class this year.
Aside from the clever organization of this book, I was thrilled to read yet another book that emphasized the power of words and stories, as Abilene is challenged to create her own story throughout the novel. Abilene was told that writing stories was easy: they simply require a beginning, middle, and end. Abilene's difficulty, though, is that she entered Manifest's story in the middle, while also knowing how the story ends, but she has no idea how it all began. In particular, she wants to know about her dad, Gideon, and she can't seem to piece all of the bits of the story together to create this beginning. Eventually she does and the story is powerful. I was crying by the end of this book; it was that moving and touching.
As has happened with other books that I have read this year, this book made me think about my dad and how dependent I was, and still am, on stories of his life in order to create the complete story in my mind of his life and his life with mine and my mother's. It's those stories that create the beginning of the story for me. I still love hearing new ones and being able to add those new bits of information to the overall story. Abilene is no different and she was able to grow and change and to think about life just a little bit differently because of the stories she heard. I'd like to think that I am a little bit like Abilene in that way. I think the stories of my dad that I have gathered like colorful flowers over the years have helped me to change the way I think of myself and my life as a whole.
I value words, specifically the written word, more than anyone will ever know. They are like oxygen to me in so many ways. Obviously, books are important to me, but I do read, more specifically I read and then re-read, other things. I re-read letters that I have saved for 20 years or emails that friends have sent that I have archived that are particularly meaningful to me. I think written words can capture a feeling, an emotion, or a state of mind, and I love being able to go back to them, even 20 years later, to recall that one moment, or that one feeling. I am fairly certain that by the end of Moon Over Manifest, Abilene realized the power of words, too, both spoken and written. More than war, more than a town, more than a single person, Moon Over Manifest was, in my opinion, a book about the power of words and stories. I loved it. Too bad I've already made my Top Ten list. I guess this one will be number 11.
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