Missing May by Cynthia Rylant

They were one big, happy family that lead simple lives in Deep Water, West Virginia. Simple lives filled with love for one another. Summer's Aunt May passes on and life gets much harder for her and Ob, May's husband. This event comes at a time when Summer finally feels secure after experiencing many years of instability in shifting from home to home. She questions whether or not Ob can regain his strength and be able to focus on the two of them as a family - as the two continually think about May and wish for her to return to them once again.

Ob shares with Summer that he has felt May's spirit. This event gives Ob hope, while it in turn reminds him of the tragic loss of his wife. Summer sees Ob lose faith, inspiration, and purpose as he fails to wake up on time one morning. But as Cletus Underwood, a boy that Summer can barely stand, manages to instill a new sense of hope to Bo and tells him he can try to communicate with May once again through a "Spiritualist." Summer does not go for this idea, and is shocked when Bo buys into taking the journey three hours to Glen Meadows. However, the three travel on while Summer feels content and safe on their way to the Church as they travel in silence.

When they arrive at the Church of Glen Meadows, they learn that the Spiritualist has passed on her nephew will not be able to assist them in connecting with May. But something changes in Bo on that ride back to Glen Meadows. He decides to turn the car around and go visit the capitol. Upon their return home, Summer sees an owl fly above her, giving her a sense of May's presence - and finally, Summer begins to let her emotions out. Bo comforts her as he did when she was a little girl. And that next morning, the three of them go out to May's garden and hang up Bo's whirligigs and the pamphlet they picked up in Glen Meadows, giving them a place to spin, live, and fly - while Cletus asks, "What is the true mission of spirit messages?" "To bring us consolation in the sorrows of life..." Then everything was set free by the wind.

While Summer is only twelve in the book, it seems as though her life experiences thus far have matured her greatly. She communicates very personal thoughts with the reader about how she misses May. However, she does not show her emotions around Bo, in order maintain strong for him in his time of need. It isn't until Summer feels May's spirit as the owl flies over her, that she finally lets go and grieves the death of May, while being comforted by Ob as she once was as a child. I believe that this was May's way of showing Summer that she is safe and that everything will be alright.

As I read Missing May, I felt drawn into the state of emotions resonating through the actions and thoughts of the characters. Rylant creates characters that are real people who experience real-life situations such as death and how people cope in different ways. She uses quite a bit of symbolism thoughout her writing. For example, when the owl passes over Summer I believed that was the moment that Summer felt May's presence of spirit and that at that moment she could surrender her true emotions and start the grieving process, and that she didn't have to be strong for Ob any longer. However, when May is expressing her thoughts about the owl she states, "I'd not ever seen an owl in all my days, and when I hadn't had you but a few weeks there that one passed through my life. I knew you'd always be doing that for me and for Ob. Bringing us good things like that." To me this represents May's wish for Summer and Ob to move on and have a new beginning in their lives together, just as Summer had created a new beginning for May and Ob when she became a part of their family. In other example of Rylan't symbolism, as the three hang up Ob's whirligigs outside at May's garden, the wind sweeps them up and carries them away as if to represent a fresh start of their lives together.

I believe that it isn't until you are faced with someone you love dying that you will not know how to cope with this life altering event. People deal with it in different ways. Some people get depressed, hope to connect with their loved one through a spiritual connection - like Bo. While others contain their emotions in order to stay strong for others - like Summer. But it isn't until someone unexpected, like Cletus, in a way fills that missing void, and brings people closer together in a time of need. And when time is given, people find their own way to say good-bye while holding onto the memories that transformed their lives.

A few of moving scenes of how Ob and Summer dealt with the loss of their beloved May...

"Right out of the blue, he wanted to live again. And I'd like to think maybe he wanted to live because of me. Because he couldn't bear the thought of saying good-bye to me."

And Ob said, "She's still here, honey. People don't ever leave us for good." (p. 84)

"I closed my eyes and thought of my poor young mama and May's poor mommy and daddy and my dear May herself. But I didn't dwell on them with pain or fear. There was a tranquility in me that felt all right, and as I remembered them all, my tears dried up and I fell asleep." (p. 84)