57 pages • 1 hour read
Abilene Tucker is the novel’s main character. When the story begins, she is 12 years old, newly separated for the summer from her father, and confused about why he sent her to Manifest, Kansas. She is precocious, friendly, and curious and has a journalistic temperament. Abilene is tough but insecure under scrutiny. She loves to solve mysteries and study people. She demonstrates her hard-won knowledge of the best way to jump off a train that’s still moving, characterizing her as someone who is always on the move.
Abilene’s defining characteristic for most of the novel is her status as either an outsider or intruder. She is never part of a community and is always the new girl, as she illustrates when introducing herself at school: “‘Well, I’m Abilene. I’m twelve years old and a hard worker,’ like I had a hundred other times in as many towns” (12). She is also adaptable, as she shows when she adopts the town dialect.
Abilene is confident and tough as long as she’s moving in the routines of the life she knows. She is reluctant to rely on others, but once she arrives in Manifest, things are different. Abilene is on her own, and as quickly becomes apparent, she doesn’t know much about her father.
Plus, gain access to 8,550+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
5th-6th Grade Historical Fiction
View Collection
7th-8th Grade Historical Fiction
View Collection
Appearance Versus Reality
View Collection
Books & Literature
View Collection
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Books that Teach Empathy
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Childhood & Youth
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Coming-of-Age Journeys
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Daughters & Sons
View Collection
Education
View Collection
Equality
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fathers
View Collection
Fear
View Collection
Fiction with Strong Female Protagonists
View Collection
Friendship
View Collection
Good & Evil
View Collection
Guilt
View Collection
Juvenile Literature
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Nation & Nationalism
View Collection
Newbery Medal & Honor Books
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Pride & Shame
View Collection
Realistic Fiction (Middle Grade)
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
The Past
View Collection
Trust & Doubt
View Collection
Truth & Lies
View Collection
War
View Collection