Moon Over Manifest

Moon Over Manifest

By: Clare Vanderpool

Published by: Yearling; Reprint edition, 2011

Grade level: 5 and up

Fountas and Pinnell: W

Lexile: 800L

Accelerated Reader: 5.3

Suggested Delivery: Individual/Small Group

Author: Clare Vanderpool

Summary:

Moon Over Manifest begins with rough-and-tumble, Depression-era stock heroine, Abilene Tucker, arriving in her father's hometown of Manifest, Kansas. She's used to hopping trains, poor living conditions, a rough life and being a little rough around the edges.  Her father has taken a railroad job in Iowa, and claiming that the situation isn't proper for a young lady, has sent her to spend the summer with his old friend, bootlegger-turned-pastor, Shady Howard. Looking for clues to her father's past, Abilene instead stumbles instead on a little tin filled with some keepsakes and letters, piquing her interest in a couple of young men named Ned and Jinx, and a spy called "the Rattler."

Key Words/Phrases to Describe the Book:

1. Depression-era

2. war

3. train

4. spy hunt

5. immigration

Key Vocabulary:

Carouse: lively festivities in drinking

Comeuppances: an outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved

Enterprise: a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires boldness or effort)

Festering: a fluid product of inflammation 

Dysentery: an infection of the intestines marked by severe diarrhea

Dyspepsia: a disorder of digestive function characterized by discomfort or heartburn or nausea

Resources:

Watch the Moon Over Manifest video on TeacherTube as preview before diving into the book!

Watch a different video version of Moon Over Manifest on YouTube, narrated by a female who pretends to be Abilene. 

Teaching Suggestions:

• Use word maps when students come across key vocabulary words in their reading
• Use think-pair-share strategies to work on fluency and comprehension
• Use the idea of story sequencing to have student's keep of track of events that occur throughout the story

Comprehension Strategies: 

Before: Put students in small groups and have them do a think aloud before beginning the book

During: While reading, have students create an inquiry chart of questions they find throughout the book.

After: Have students use the question-answer relationship to respond to literal and inferential questions presented by the teacher after the book has been finished.

Writing Activity:

Students must make a timeline of all the events that occur over the period of time within the novel, while Abilene is on her adventures of decoding her father's past.  Events must include a general date of when it happened, and a description of where and what was happening.

Bibliography:

Vanderpool, C. (2011). Moon over manifest. New York, NY: Yearling book.