Let me first admit that I have not been a huge fan of recent Newbery winners, but I absolutely fell in love with this book.
Manifest is a small town with a huge history and even bigger secrets, but when Abilene Tucker comes to town, those secrets are slowly made known through stories, newspaper articles, letters, and a box of mementos discovered in a cigar box underneath the floorboards of her new room. From here, the secrets of Manifest begin to unfold. In hopes of learning more about her father, Abilene becomes determined to find out what each memento means and where they lead. With the help of her new friends Lettie and Ruthanne, Abilene sets out to find the Rattler, an elusive figure mentioned in Ned Gillen's letters stored in the cigar box. During her quest, she learns more about who Ned Gillen and his young friend Jinx were to the town of Manifest.
On top of her summer quest, Abilene is in debt to Miss Sadie, a diviner and outcast inhabiting the local "den of iniquity." As she works off her debt, Miss Sadie recounts story after story about Manifest during the first World War, and Abilene gradually makes connections with the town's people, local newspaper articles, and the mementos that ultimately lead her to the truth.
This book offers so much to middle grade readers. Not only is a great mystery, but it is packed full of historical themes: prohibition and bootlegging, coal mining, immigration, the War,and of course the Great Depression. More than that, it offers the story of a strong-willed young girl who brings an entire town togehter through the truth, no matter how painful that truth may be.
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