Moon Over Manifest is pretty interesting. The main story is about a young girl, Abilene, that is sent to live with her father’s friend in the small town of Manifest, Kansas, during the Great Depression of the 1930s. She tries to learn what her father, Gideon, was like when he was a little boy living in Manifest. When she finds a box of mementos, letters, and a map that she believes once belonged to her father, Abilene pieces together much of the town’s history and secrets. Part of the story is told from the perspective of a boy named Jinx who lived in Manifest during the time of the United States involvement in World War I (1917-1918).
When I first started reading Moon Over Manifest, I have to admit, I was not immediately hooked. But as I kept reading I became very interested in the story’s characters and in the history of Manifest. The more I read, the more it felt like the town itself was the main character of the story, not Abilene or Jinx. I believe that where we live and grow up has a major influence on our lives and how we turn out as adults. I’m sure that I would be a very different person if I grew up in a big city rather than the small town where I did. The people and customs of the area gave me a different perspective of life than that of many other people that I know. We’re lucky at our school that we live where we do.
I’m glad I didn’t give up on this book in the first couple of chapters, because I would have missed out on a wonderful, heart-warming story. It was a good read, but perhaps not for everyone. As is so often the case, just because you can read and understand the words in the book, doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to follow and understand the deeper meaning of the story. And that’s OK. That’s why there are so many books out there.
