Missing May (Scholastic Gold)

by Cynthia Rylant

Overview

This critically acclaimed winner of the Newbery Medal joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content.

Ever since May, Summer's aunt and good-as-a-mother for the past six years, died in the garden among her pole beans and carrots, life for Summer and her Uncle Ob has been as bleak as winter. Ob doesn't want to create his beautiful whirligigs anymore, and he and Summer have slipped into a sadness that they can't shake off. They need May in whatever form they can have her — a message, a whisper, a sign that will tell them what to do next. When that sign comes, Summer with discover that she and Ob can keep missing May but still go on with their lives.A beloved classic about grief, gardens, and the enduring love of family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780439613835
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/2004
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	389,282
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 7.63(h) x (d)
Lexile:	980L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant has written more than 100 books, including Dog Heaven, Cat Heaven, and the Newbery Medal-winning novel Missing May. She lives with her pets in Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

This short novel is a study of grief--chiefly, that felt by Summer after her foster mother's sudden death, but also her sorrow at witnessing the grief of Ob, her foster father--she realizes that she herself may not be reason enough for him to go on living. And for several months it seems as if he may not in fact go on, until Summer and Ob take a short car trip that somehow transforms their lives. In a direct, matter-of-fact voice occasionally laced with irony and wry humor, Summer articulates many discerning insights about sorrow and loss. The reader remains a distant observer of her emotions, however--perhaps because the novel begins after May's death, making her a less immediate figure, perhaps because Summer's perceptions are quite sophisticated, even adult. And the novel's emotional turning point is difficult to grasp, either verbally or intuitively: all Summer, and we, know is that ``something happened to Ob'' to make him embrace life fully again. Ages 11-up. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 5-8-In spare, graceful prose, 12-year-old Summer talks about her deceased Aunt May, who raised her, and attempts to get beyond her own grief and to help her uncle survive. The characters are simple people without means, but their wisdom and love for one another transcend earthly bounds. (March, 1992)

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