Moon Over Manifest

2010 · Clare Vanderpool · Historical fiction mystery, Depression and World War I

Acceptable with guidance. Age: 10+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.

Our review

A beautiful story about how telling the truth of the past heals a town and a family. Two Catholic reviewers praise it, and a nun is one of its quiet heroes. A drifter boy hears Psalm 23 and wants to change. The reservations: the storyteller hangs out a medium's sign, the town's big scheme is bootleg whiskey, and the ending turns on a con.

For parents

Read it aloud from 9, and a child can read it alone from about 10. Common Sense Media says 10 and up. There is a stabbing, a shooting and a KKK cross burning. Say plainly that fortune telling and talking to spirits are forbidden (CCC 2116), and that Miss Sadie is really telling memories. Ask how the town's stories healed Abilene's loneliness.

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