Moon Over Manifest

I said I would blog about books that I read and meant something to me.  This is either last years Newbery Gold Medal winner or this years but whenever it was awarded - it was deserved.  It is about a little girl living during the Great Depression on the fringes of the Dust Bowl.  It is beautifully written with a story within a story.  We all have thing that we blame ourselves for that are out of our control.  For example, I blamed myself for my brother's learning disabilities for years.  From the time I was in Jr. High School until long after I was married, I was sure I had something to do with his problems that were mostly genetic and metabolic.  I even studied it, so I could help others overcome these problems.  Only then did I realize there was no way it could have been me that caused his problems.  In this book, so many people think that they are to blame.  Some run away from their problems, others sit and stew over them, but basically a town has died because no one can move forward.  As tragic as this scenario sounds, it is a beautifully uplifting book.  It is written for the grades 5-8 and I think that is right on, because that is when they start to take on the world their guilt.  This book teaches you that sometimes things are just not in your control - there are always consequences but you cannot always control the events of your life.