Moon Over Manifest

Moon Over Manifest
by Clare Vanderpool
Delacorte Press, 2010. 351 pgs
Reading Level: ages 9-12
Hardcover: $16.99

Annotation: Abilene searches for traces of her father in the rich history of the town of Manifest.

Summary: It's been just the two of them since Abilene can remember. Her mother left her father, Gideon, and her when she was just a toddler. But when Gideon gets a job on a railroad as she nears her twelfth birthday, he declares it unfit for a girl and sends her off to spend the summer in Manifest, Kansas--the town he grew up in. Abilene's to stay with Shady, the town preacher and an old friend of her father's. When she arrives, she's forced to attend the last day of school, although Abilene can't see the point as she won't be here come fall, but the teacher gives her an assignment anyway--an essay exploring the meaning of the town's name and it's significance. Thrusting that chore to the back of her mind, throughout the summer Abilene finds adventure and friendship in Manifest and visits Miss Sadie, the town's occultist, nearly everyday. Piece by piece Miss Sadie unravels Manifest's glorious, complicated history, focusing on the antics of Ned and Jinks, who were two of the town's most engaging, spirited boys. However, the town seems to hold lots of secrets and Abilene yearns to learn more about her father, but no one seems to want to talk about him and Miss Sadie's stories hold no mention of Gideon. Even though she's perplexed by her father's absence from history, Abilene comes to love Manifest and slowly starts to understand the town's nuances and eventually discovers the truth of her father's past. So when summer ends Abilene has more than enough material to write her essay, because she's learned all of Manifest's secrets and can now tell them from the perspective of someone who belongs.

Evaluation: As a debut author, Vanderpool has written the loveliest of books. Set in the great depression the book alternates between present day 1936 and the town's past in 1918. The backstory is revealed through old newspaper clippings and Miss Sadie's reminiscences until the two eras gracefully intertwine and their secrets made "manifest". An intriguing plot provides lots of pent up curiousity and keeps the story moving, but the real treasure is Vanderpool's characters. Abilene is naive and spunky, dignified and endearing. The rest of Manifest's population is ripe with a well-fleshed supporting cast, from Miss Sadie the occultist and Shady the preacher and saloon keeper to Sister Redempta the schoolteacher and Hattie Mae, the town reporter. All have their place and contribute to the book's full-bodied charm. It's delicious and funny with an excellent voice. The historical setting is spot on and it's not difficult to imagine the place nor the time period because Vanderpool has evoked it so naturally. However poor economically, Manifest is rich in relationships and you'd count yourself lucky to live in such a close knit community.

Significance: Moon over Manifest explores the complicated history of small town life, how living so closely produces a necessary interdependence that provides an opportunity for love and the possibility of hurt. Even when an entire town offers holds no blame, it's often hard to forgive oneself.

Personal Choice: I can never resist the allure of alliteration.

Awards: Newbery Award Winner, 2011 / Spur Award for Best Western Juvenile Fiction from the Western Writers of America, 2011 / Top Ten Historical Fiction Novels (ALA), 2011

They Called Themselves the KKK

They Called Themselves the KKK: the Birth of an American Terrorist Group
by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. 172 pgs.
Young Adult Nonfiction / Advanced Children
Hardcover: $19.00

Annotation: The Ku Klux Klan began life with 6 men, but grew into an unweildy, racial hate group dedicated to terror and vigilante violence.

Summary: After the Civil War, the South was a hotbed of chaos. Freed slaves, economic disruption and general uncertainty led to great fear and indignity on the part of the white population. As part of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Reconstruction Act, blacks were given freedom and the opportunity to own land, worship together and go to school. This didn't sit well with many people in the South. In a small, Tennesse town 6 white men congregated, with the words, "Boys, let us get up a club." And from that the nefarious Ku Klux Klan was born. Some people believe it began with only mischievous intentions but other scholars emphatically claim it had evil designs from the very beginning. The small club grew, at one point citing nearly half a million members and including high ranking officials from nearly every Southern county. The organization was built on secret handshakes, sworn oaths and ghostly costumes. Their activites ranged from terrorizing the black community to trying them in vigilate courts involving violent whippings, rape, lynching and all manner of despicable acts. The Klan's fear and hatred sought to keep the black community from voting, holding land or in any way acting "uppity" and their persecution extended to any white man who espoused racial equality. After a time, the federal government finally intervened, holding trials and issuing fines, but the sheer amount of malevolence went largely unpunished. The South continued to experience racial inequality for more than a century after the Emanicapation Proclamation ended and each despicable act is a blot on a nation founded on freedom for all men.

Evaluation: With clear prose and methodical development, Bartoletti exposes the true nature of the Ku Klux Klan. She augments the exposition with time appropriate cartoons and sketches that appeared in the local papers and journals of the era. Personal accounts from both the Klan members and their victims appear with frequency and pictures of former slaves help personalize the narrative. Told with cool precision, the book still captures the horror of the Klan's deeds. Figures for the price of slaves, wages and land are given in their original form, but are then extrapolated to the present day's dollar worth to give modern perspective. A timeline of major events at the back of the book offers a succint overview and this large, informative book is a must have for any youth library. This book succeeds in educating youth so that they might understand their country's unfortuante past and help become part of the ongoing fight against racial inequality, hate crimes and the evil that still exists in the hearts of ignorant men.

Significance: The terrible regin of the Ku Klux Klan is a blight on American history, but its sordid past is an important point of study. It is necesary that we remember the atrocities of the past so that we might learn to never repeat them. Illuminating the deeds of evil men helps stamp out ignorance and brings a small amount of justice to the people they terrorized. While it would be nice to think the Klan's influence is dead, the book cites 932 hate groups still in existence as of 2009.

Personal Choice: It's like books about Nazi Germany. The subject matter is gruesome, but there is a compelling need to learn about what incites people to turn into pure evil. I knew little more than rumor about the KKK and was both hesitant and intriqued to gain a more solid understanding of this racist hate group.

Awards: Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist, 2011 / ALA Notable Children's Book, 2011 / Horn Book Fanfare Selection, 2011 / CCBC Choices, 2011 / Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2011 / Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, 2010 / School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, 2010 / A Washington Post Best Book of the Year, 2010 / Booklinks Lasting Connections Selection, 2010

Departure Time

Departure Time (Vertrektijd)
by Truus Matti
translation by Nancy Forest-Flier
Namelos, 2010. 214 pgs.
Reading Level: 10-14

Annotation: Trying to make sense of her father's accident, a young girl is pulled between the real and the surreal.

Summary: Matti writes a double story, with the same protagonist at the heart of each one. In the first, finding herself alone and confused on a bare plain in the middle of a thunderstorm, the young, unnamed girl seeks cover in an abandoned hotel. Met by a sleepy, yet hospitable fox and a cantankerous rat, the girl finds shelter and friendship with the fox, if not the rat. Gradually, the rat comes to trust her, but mysterious piano playing from an indecipherable source and the rat’s work on an old bus consume her days while she tries to remember just what she’s doing there and what her purpose is. In the second story, the girl is despondent over the accident that took her father. With her mother overcome by grief and their move to a new home, the girl is weighed down by the apprehension that her actions might have caused her father’s death. Despite the love of her grandmother and her father’s friend, Mr. Malakoff, the girl remains convinced she is somehow responsible for this horrible tragedy.

Evaluation: With increasing clarity, the two disparate stories intertwine and with each successive chapter, the reader begins to understand the interdependence of each. Matti writes with a melancholy pen, but there is a sweetness that surrounds this vulnerable protagonist and it’s a beautiful thing to see her mature as she interacts with the fox and the rat--coming to terms with her father’s death and her younger self. The rat and the fox add touches of humor and ingenuity to the tale and the girl is a bit like Alice as she navigates through her own Wonderland, occupied by talking animals and upside down affairs. The pacing is just right, with just enough mystery to keep the reader guessing and just enough exposition for it not to be overwhelming. However, the story has such a sophisticated structure and relies so heavily on nuance that I’m wary that young readers will have a difficult time parceling out the significance and the relationship between the two separate narratives. I really liked the Matti’s style myself though, and it pays a distinct homage to St. Exupery’s “The Little Prince”, as both adolescents are taught life lessons from the lips of a talking fox.

Significance: Departure Time covers several important themes. It discusses the difficulty of losing a parent and the common feelings of guilt and responsibility. But, the story is also one of discovery, of the journey we make through adolescence and the ability and opportunity we have to look back on our live and realize how we’ve matured. It’s about forgiveness of self and forgiveness of other people, even when they’re gone from our lives.

Personal Choice: It was something to do with the book being published orginally in Dutch. I just love the Northern Barquoe school of art and the cover's airmail edging was enticing. Not to mention that one of the characters was a talking fox so, I was hooked.

Awards: Batchelder Honor, 2011 / ALA Notable, 2011 / USBBY Outstanding International Honor, 2011 / CCBC Choices, 2011