Moon Over Manifest facts for kids
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| Author | Clare Vanderpool |
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| Cover artist | Richard Tuschman |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature, Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press |
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Publication date
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2010 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 351 |
| ISBN | 978-0-385-73883-5 |
| OCLC | 460709773 |
| LC Class | PZ7.P28393 Mo 2010 |
Moon Over Manifest is a children's novel written by American author Clare Vanderpool. It was published in 2010. This book won the 2011 Newbery Medal, a top award for children's literature. It also received the Spur Award for best Western juvenile fiction. The state of Kansas named it a Kansas Notable Book.
The story is about a brave and adventurous girl named Abilene. Her father sends her to a small town called Manifest, Kansas. This happens in the summer of 1936. The author shared that the fictional town of Manifest is based on the real town of Frontenac, Kansas.
Story of Manifest
The main character is Abilene Tucker. She is a kind and adventurous 12-year-old girl. In 1936, her father sends her to Manifest, Kansas. He has to work on a railroad job somewhere else. When Abilene arrives, she finds the town is run-down. It has been greatly affected by the Great Depression.
A pastor takes Abilene into his home. There, she finds a hidden box of old items and letters. They are stashed under a floorboard. One letter mentions someone called "the Rattler." Abilene and her two new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, think this might be a German spy from 1918. They start investigating. Soon, they get a mysterious note. It tells them to "leave well enough alone."
Abilene realizes she lost her father's compass. She lost it while looking for the "spy." She walks down a path to find it. By accident, she breaks a special pot belonging to a diviner. To pay for the broken pot and get her compass back, Abilene does odd jobs for the diviner. She has to dig in dry soil during a drought. She also plants seeds and hunts for strange plants. These tasks seem to have no clear purpose.
The diviner senses that Abilene feels left alone by her father. So, she tells Abilene a story from the past. It is about two boys in Manifest in 1918. Their names are Jinx and Ned. Jinx is a 12-year-old who is good at tricking people. He leaves his partner after thinking he accidentally caused serious harm to a man. Ned is a 15-year-old boy. He uses Jinx's skills to join the army even though he is too young.
At that time, the town was controlled by the mine owners. They had all the jobs and money during the war. The owners paid the poor workers very little. They also made them work longer hours. If workers refused, they would be fired.
A woman who owned a lot of land died. The mine owners wanted her land for their own profit. But the town had the first chance to buy it. They needed to raise $1,000 before a deadline. They did not want the mine owners to know their plan. If the owners knew, they would give them more work. They would also stop them from raising the money. So, everyone in town pretended to be sick. They put the town under quarantine. This was to make the mine owners leave. The townspeople sold a "healing elixir." They raised most of the money this way. But someone told the mine owners about their plan. The owners returned and made everyone go back to work.
A government official visited Manifest. He was the nephew of a town resident. He tricked one of the mine owners. He convinced the owner to buy part of the land for sale. He said there was a "healing spring" there. The owner could make a fortune from it. But it was just regular water. The tax the owner paid for the land went to the town. This gave them enough money to buy the rest of the land. Soon after, the tricked man sold his part of the land for much less than he paid. The town celebrated their success. But then they heard sad news. Ned, the well-known boy, had died.
Jinx found out that his partner had caused harm to the man earlier. So, Jinx was not responsible for that. But his parents had died. He also thought it was his fault that Ned was killed by the Germans. Jinx left Manifest for good.
Abilene heard the whole story. She matched the letters and items she found to the diviner's tale. She put all the pieces together. She discovered that Jinx was her own father. Later, Abilene got a cut and became very ill. Her father started acting differently around her. He thought it was his fault, but it wasn't. That was why he had left her in Manifest.
Abilene sent a telegram to her father. She pretended to be very ill herself. She then found out that the "Rattler" was just a made-up story. Someone had seen a nun and her rattling rosary in the woods at night. The "spy" they found was the undertaker. He was the person who had told the mine owners about the town's trick almost twenty years ago. He was afraid the kids had found out his secret. So, he sent them the note to scare them. Abilene's father returned to Manifest. He found his daughter was not ill. She told him she knew about his past. He understood her when she asked him to stay.
Characters
Main characters
- Abilene Tucker, a brave 12-year-old girl. She is confident and learns about her town's history. This history is also connected to her own family.
- Miss Sadie, a mysterious fortune teller from Hungary. She only tells stories about the past.
- Jinx (Gideon Tucker), a boy who comes to Manifest and helps change the town. He is Abilene's father.
- Soletta (Lettie) Taylor, Abilene's friend. She helps Abilene look for the "Rattler." She is also Ruthanne's cousin.
- Ned Gillian, Miss Sadie's son.
Minor Characters
- Gideon Tucker, Abilene's father. He sends her to stay with a friend in Manifest.
- Substitute Pastor Shady Howard, he welcomes Abilene into his home. He has been a substitute pastor for 14 years.
- Hattie Mae Harper, the town's newspaper reporter. She helps Abilene research her family's past.
- Sister Redempta, the town's school teacher and a nun. She also helps with other town matters.
- Mr. Underhill, the town's undertaker.
