Have you ever felt nostalgic about a time or place you've never physically experienced? Reading Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool makes me conjure up an image (no, more than an image: a feeling) of myself sitting in a rocking chair on an old Southern porch, sipping lemonade and eating pecan pie, basking in the summer heat that wraps around me like a blanket. I can picture my surroundings perfectly, although it's not an exact place or time I've been to. I love, love, love the setting of a sleepy Southern town. I can't say why, but it's always fascinated me. I love reading books that take place in the South (Gone with the Wind is a particular favorite). I've got Southern blood (according to my family tree I've had family there since before the Revolutionary War), and I was born in the South (South Carolina), so it's a setting that's in my bones. I'm drawn to the region's past more than it's present. Moon Over Manifest is the perfect book for me. It takes place in the 1930's in the small town of Manifest, Kansas, which seems more Midwestern than Southern when you look at a U.S. map, but the town feels Southern. The novel won the 2011 Newbery Award, and I already love the protagonist, a brave, adventurous girl named Abilene Tucker who has always been a wanderer and wants to develop a deeper connection to her father, who has sent her to Manifest while he works on the railroad. I love YA Lit. There are so many good books aimed at young people that can be enjoyed by a much wider audience. Speaking of good YA Lit, go read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. I cried a lot, just as I expected, but it was so, so good. I love that this novel has been included in most of the general "Best of 2012" lists; usually you don't find YA Lit on those lists. Time Magazine named it the Best Fiction Book of 2012, and it's awesome that that honor went to a YA book. Hopefully it will help inspire people to broaden their horizons and begin to cross genre lines when choosing books.