Moon Over Manifest Winner of the 2011 Newbery Medal

Written by Clare Vanderpool

Copyright 2010

Published by Delacorte Press

Reading level: ages 9-11, grades 4-6, Lexile measure 800L, DRA 50

Suggested delivery: independent read or small group read
Genre: Historical fiction

Insightful ~ Powerful ~ A gripping story ~ Historical ~ Interesting

Summary: 

Twelve year old, Abilene who lives a rough live with her father is sent away for the summer to a town called Manifest to live with a friend. Jumping on a train to Kansas, Abilene is on a mission to find out what kind of person her father once was. After arriving to the dry and unexciting town, Abilene soon realizes that there is something here to keep her on her toes. She ends up finding old letters which mention a spy named Rattler. With the help of these letters and her new friends, Abilene is on a spy-hunt. During her hunt, Abilene discovers from a fortune tellers that Manifest once held history, and many secrets. New information keeps Abilene on her mission to learn more about her father's history as a boy. She soon finds out that many of the stories weave many different people together.

Vocabulary to Know:

Antiquity: an artifact surviving from the past

Armistice: a state of peace agreed between opponents so they can discuss peace terms

Bauble: trinket; trifle

Bona Fide: not counterfeit of copied

Cantakerous: ill tempered and disagreeable

Discombobulated: discomposed; confused

Suggested Lesson Ideas:

+Before Reading Activity: For a book like this one, Shared Reading is a great way to get students reading aloud to each other and practicing with their fluency without them realizing it. It is always good to have students reading together than always by themselves, this way they can talk about what they just read and gather ideas and answer each others' questions. After shared reading, it is also always good to go over the few pages or chapter than was just read. Always be sure to follow up on their reading so that there are no misconceptions.

+During Reading Activity: Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World! What a great way to get students thinking. I have learned so much about this activity. This is a great way for students to be able to make connections to themselves, the world and other texts based on this book. When students have to make connections in three different ways, they really have to think about how to make those connections. "Moon Over Manifest" will provide students with many opportunities to do this.

+After Reading Activity: Questioning the Author is a great tool to have students go beyond the text and questions why a certain part of the text and wonder why the author thought it was important. With this, students can critically think about a particular passage in the book or a certain chapter and question the author's intentions. 
+Writing Activity: Have students describe in detail the last memento given to Abilene by her father at the end of the story. Have the students describe its significance. 

For Further Knowledge and Exploration...

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http://www.clarevanderpool.com/

Clare Vanderpool

Book Trailer