Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday: MOON OVER MANIFEST by Clare Vanderpool


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Pub. Date: October 12, 2010
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Format: Hardcover, 368pp
Age Range: 9 to 12
ISBN-13: 9780385738835
ISBN: 0385738838

Description (from the publisher):
"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.

Click here to visit the author's website.

About the author (from the publisher):
Moon Over Manifest, Clare Vanderpool’s first novel, is set in the fictional small town of Manifest, Kansas, which is based on the real southeastern Kansas town of Frontenac, home of both of her maternal grandparents. Drawing on stories she heard as a child, along with research in town newspapers, yearbooks, and graveyards, Clare found a rich and colorful history for her story. Clare lives in Wichita, Kansas, with her husband and their four children.

4 comments:

librarypat said...

Sounds like a wonderful story of the way childhood used to be in a much simpler time. Simple maybe, but in many ways more exciting and more involved.

bermudaonion said...

That looks like a good one!

brizmus said...

This sounds REALLY good.
I want to know more about this mysterious Path to Perdition.

Here's my WoW.

Zibilee said...

The mystery aspects of this book sound really, really good! I am going to have to keep this one in mind for the future!