Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past. Getting off the train in Kansas to learn more about her father's exciting past, Abilene Tucker is initially disappointed by the run-down Depression town she encounters before finding a hidden box of mementos and letters that mention a spy who played an important role in the town's secret history. Winner of the 2011 Newbery Award.