MOON OVER MANIFEST

It’s a challenge to produce a successful audio experience of Newbery winner MOON OVER MANIFEST. It alternates between the years 1918 and 1936 in Manifest, Kansas, where 12-year-old Abilene Tucker has gone to live while her father works on the railroad in Iowa. Newspaper articles and letters from both decades contribute to this lyric story, which plays hopscotch with memory. The story’s characters have 21 different American accents. The complex result requires many production and narrative choices. Jenna Lamia’s bittersweet reading evokes Abilene’s uncertainty in her new home. Lamia also portrays Jinx and Ned with believable boy voices, and she handles the accents of Manifest with competency. Kirby Heyborne reads Ned’s letters in clear, unaccented prose. Cassandra Campbell’s voice is a little too well modulated for Hattie Mae’s journalistic fervor. Contemplative listeners will find Vanderpool’s gem brought to life with sensitivity. This review refers to Listening Library’s second audio edition. C.A. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2011]