Clare Vanderpool, who
has lived nearly her entire life in the same Kansas community, began to think
about what would constitute a "true place" for the child of an
itinerant family. The result, Moon over Manifest (Delacorte/Random House), earned her the 2011 Newbery Medal. Not since
Joan Blos won the 1980 Newbery Medal for A Gathering of Days has an author received the award for a
first novel.
Can you talk a bit about this idea of a "true place," and its role in the inspiration of Moon over Manifest?
That was the working title, "True Place." And then obviously the title changed from there. When I think of a true place, I think of my neighborhood, the things that are familiar to me. I've lived in the same neighborhood my whole life. What would a "true place" be for a child who's spent her life on the road?
Is Manifest, Kan.,
based on a real town, and did you draw on stories you heard as a child for Moon over Manifest?
It was not so much specific stories that found their way into the book; it was more stories from that time period, the tone of that place and those people. There were stories I heard about the mine, but a lot of it came out of the research about Frontenac [in Kansas, an actual town].
How did you decide on that structure, alternating between the 1936 and 1917 story lines?
In the first probably 20-25 pages, that kind of happened naturally. I thought at first it would be one little back story or foray into the past, but as I was doing the research, it grew into more. The Depression was devastating. A lot of people left these mining towns. They'd had their heydays, and when I was reading in the newspaper, there seemed to be a natural harkening back to those better times. The newspaper would have a "Remember When?" column that talked about "remember when we had people from 20 different countries living in our town." I have a book from 1917 that was written by the superintendent of schools in Frontenac, with a pie chart of the populations in the schools--from 22 different countries.
I thought it was very cool that you did the Watermark Books Jane Austen Summer Challenge.
That's a lot of reading in one summer.
How many sisters do you have?
One.
I ask because it seems your sister, Annmarie, asked you some questions on the FAQ page of your Web site, yet you say that C.Y. is your "favorite sister."
[Laughter.] C.Y. is like our adopted sister. My sister and myself and C.Y. are all friends. C.Y. is the wannabe sister.
Which of you is the older sister?
That would be me. We're 10 years apart and we're often mistaken for twins. Annmarie would say the same thing.
It's also cool that you and your sister are in the same book club!
Oh yeah!
Do you have a new book coming?
Yes, I do. It's another Kansas character, a boy, only in this case he's uprooted from his Kansas home, and it takes place in Maine. C.Y. and my sister and I went to Maine and did some research in October.
I love the concept of the "dream present" (a cliffhanger, or dream starter of sorts) that you gave your children before they went to sleep. Has that idea influenced your approach to writing?
I don't know which influenced which. Writing might have helped with that way of saying goodnight. Stories have always been a part of our conversation, I guess.
I'm captivated by stories, and my kids are big readers. Moon over Manifest is a story about storytelling.