Module 4: Missing May - Newbery Winners

Book Summary:

Summer goes to live with her Aunt May and Uncle Ob when she is six years old.  She finally has found a home where she feels loved and accepted.  Aunt May dies when Summer is twelve years old and it is difficult for Summer and Ob to overcome their grief.  Ob has a more difficult time because he does not believe that he has the capabilities to raise Summer properly on his own without the help of May.  Ob feels May's spirit and they go in a journey to meet with the Reverend Miriam Young, with Cletus, a strange boy from school, who has been spending time at their house. They get some shocking news when they get to the Reverend's house, but they continue their journey to the West Virginia State Capitol. Ob and Summer learn to overcome their grief and know that May will always be with them in their hearts.
 
APA Reference:

Rylant, C. (1992). Missing May.  New York, NY: Yearing.

Impression:

This is a beautiful book about overcoming grief and loss.  The love that Summer's aunt and uncle give her is more valuable then the material possessions that they could have given her if they had the money.  The tenderness that Ob displays to Summer when he begins to learn to cope with the loss of his beloved wife.  The owl that May and Summer see when she was little and the owl that Summer, Ob and Cletus see when they come home from the Capitol was a sweet part in the story to remind those left behind that their loved ones are still with them in their hearts and memories.

Professional Review:

In this haunting first-person narrative, Cynthia Rylant gives substance to the abstract concept of love which philosophers have so often attempted to define. Orphaned at six, raised by an elderly West Virginia aunt and uncle with more devotion than money, Summer is twelve years old when Aunt May dies. Although Summer's grief is profound, it is Uncle Ob who seems unable to go on living without his beloved companion; that is, until he decides that her presence still lingers nearby and that somehow he can contact her. With the help of another loner, Cletus Underwood, one of Summer's schoolmates, the two leave the dilapidated trailer which is their home and journey to another county in search of healing at the Spiritualist Church of Glen Meadows. But their quest seems doomed when they learn that the preacher they hoped to meet had died several months earlier. Then, as if in answer to Summer's silent prayers, on the return journey Ob chooses life over mourning, freeing both of them from months of longing for the impossible. The final scene is a triumphant catharsis as they find consolation in their memories and in each other. Although the focus is the time following May's death, Rylant skillfully interweaves scenes from the past to re-create her personality so that the grief of the survivors is both comprehensible and compelling. The book explores internal rather than external changes — a focus which is exactly right for its theme.

M. M. B., (1992). Missing May. Horn Book Magazine, 68(2), 206.

Library Uses: 

This book could be used along with a dictionary lesson, either in book or online format.  The student could look up meanings of words that are unfamiliar to the students like a whirligig. The book has a very strong theme of grief and how to overcome a time of grieving, It could be used to help students understand and find the dominant theme of a book.