Moon Over Manifest

So I am enjoying getting to know my new library.  Among other things I found a display of Newbery award books.  They even had a free list of the winners.  I have always wanted to read all the Newbery winners and they just gave me the incentive.  However, I am not a librarian that wants to read something because I should read it.  I want to want to read it and not waste my time on things of no interest to me.  So instead of making a blanket statement like, "I want to read all the Newbery award winners," I will make the following statement: "I am going to read some of the Newbery award winners and I will tell you about it if I do."  And since they have an ongoing display at the library I won't even have to work very hard to find them.  Now I have already read a fair number of them but I might just re-read them. 

My first book was Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool and it won the Newbery in 2011.  It is historical fiction and  takes place in backwoods Kansas in 1936 with flashbacks to 1917-1918.  It follows the story of Abilene, who was sent to Manifest while her dad worked on the railroad.  As she meets people she struggles to find her place and to find more out about her father, who lived there at one time.  She also finds out the story of the people of Manifest and their rich history.  There's themes of adventure, loyalty, relationships of all kinds and is a coming-of-age story for Abilene.  It was very engaging and contained no language and very little, if any, questionable content.