Review: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Stories. Every day we tell each other stories. We read them, listen to them and share them with others. Stories take many forms: people “catching up,” movies and T.V. shows, music, video games, dirty footprints in the house and, of course, books. Rich in its layers, Moon Over Manifest shows how we are our histories and all our stories are connected.

Can you ever really understand a person or even a place until you know its story?

Abilene and her father, Gideon,  lived the life of hobos, hopping on and off trains until he found work. But now Abilene is too old to be drifting. So, Gideon sends Abilene to stay in Manifest, Kansas with people he knew long ago...

Abilene is looking for stories: a hidden box, with letters and trinkets, reveals a story central to who the townspeople of Manifest are; the story of the Ratler, an unknown townsperson acting as a spy, that Abilene and her friends try to reveal; Miss Sadie the diviner has stories to tell if only someone will listen. Abilene knows these stories are important but the story she most wants to hear is the story of her father who once lived in Manifest. What kind of person is her father? Why did he send her away to live with strangers? Is he coming back for her?

Moon Over Manifest reminds me of the movie Fried Green Tomatos (one of my all-time favorites) in a couple ways. Like the movie, the story is set in the Depression Area. Moon Over Manifest also shifts between the past (in the letters and through Miss Sadie’s stories) and the present as (Abilene narrates her experience in Manifest). The flashbacks take us to the town of Manifest during World War One while Abilene’s story takes place in Manifest during the 1930s. This switching technique worked well and I loved the flashbacks.

Stories are central to the human experience. We can’t always remember raw facts and data. But we can remember stories. They evoke emotion, sympathy and empathy. Stories explain the facts and help us make sense of them. Stories help us remember and help us share memories. Remember when dad did.... Remember when your sister... We’ve all heard stories like these, haven’t we? Stories bind us together and so we tell them over and over.

Stories connect people and I think that’s what Moon Over Manifest shows. No matter how different the townspeople are, no matter their country of origin, their wealth or social class, age or gender, everyone's stories are connected.

While marketed as a children’s book, Moon Over Manifest is nuanced and Vanderpool is an excellent writer. The prose is enjoyable as are the many characters. Adults as well as children will appreciate this work. I highly recommend it!

Publisher: Yearling, 2011 (paperback copy)     Pages: 351
Rating: 5 Stars     Source: purchased copy

Anastasia's Secret by Susanne Dunlap and the Alexander Palace

This historical novel follows the teenage years of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, daughter of the last Tsar of Russia. Anastasia undergoes many changes physically and emotionally as she matures during World War I and the Russian Revolution in 1917 that ended her father’s reign and eventually led to the family’s captivity and death. But Dunlap, using her creative license, ends Anastasia’s story with a window of hope, albeit a small one, that Nastya (Anastasia’s nickname) may have survived.

The focus of Anastasia’s Secret is two-fold: historical accuracy and romance. Dunlap did extensive research and nearly every character is verifiable, the most notable exception being Sasha, a soldier who guards the Romanovs and falls in love with Nastya. The romance is the duchess’ great secret. However, being so young and just a girl, Anastasia is able to overhear much or witness things she wasn’t supposed to know about. This ease-dropping attribute allowed Dunlap to feed the reader historical information. I didn’t care for this method, personally, and wished the information could have been more seamlessly worked into the plot. We get a sense for important events taking place outside the palace, like the war and revolution, but only enough to whet the appetite. I wanted more details but I suspect that for young adult readers Dunlap offered enough information. The text did get a bit dry and I think that stems from the way, as I mentioned, that information is presented.

The romance was, I felt (and I don’t mean this to sound so negative) completely unrealistic. It’s possible and even likely the Romanov girls had crushes on soldiers (hey, I married one!). But I doubt any of them could carry off a romance like Sasha and Nastya do in the novel. The situation is so dangerous that for the couple to have clandestine meetings is sweet but not likely. So, a little suspension of beliefs is necessary but again I suspect that for young readers it’s not a problem.

I do wish we knew more about Sasha. Besides his romantic interest in Nastya it was hard to get to know him. I did like the family members, especially the sister Mashka. There were so many other characters I felt lost at times. I think this reflects Dunlap’s incredible research and it may have been hard for her to let go of some of that info. I think this text would have benefitted from a closer examination of a few characters rather than crowding the text with so many. That’s just my take.

Little Red Flags: The romance does get intense. Though the language is not terribly graphic about sex the novel is very sexually charged as the two lovers meet time and again. There’s only one violent scene that is brief and besides a few lewd comments by soldiers no foul language. 


You have to check this out. If you have any interest in the Romanovs, Russian history or royalty in general, check out the pictures at this website. It’s fantastic and I will be looking at it for some time.

The Alexander Palace

Mountain Hall: The indoor slide mentioned in the book

Anastasia Information 
Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2010      Pages: 320     Source: IC Public Library    

Rating: 3 Stars          If this was a movie: PG-13