Rylant, C. (1992). Missing May. Yearling.
Newbery Medal Winner – 1993
This is my last post on a Rylant book, and I feel a sort of grief myself. I feel like I have had such an opportunity to get to know her this semester through our readings, class discussions, and yes, my drive through West Virginia during Spring Break. I have always read numerous Rylant books in my second grade classroom, and felt I knew about her crafting and how children interpret her writing rather well. However, I’m surprised to feel like as an adult reader, looking at books with a bit more of a keener eye for her inspirations and connectivity to so many of her written pieces. Once again, I pictured the mountain landscape, modest homes and lifestyle of many who live in West Virginia as I read Missing May.
This story involves four characters, three of which are still living, coping with the death of the fourth. Summer provides the first person perspective as the storyteller and is an orphan who, after many transitions, finally ends up happily living with her Uncle Ob and Aunt May. The reader comes into the story after Aunt May has passes away, and misses out on having a deeper emotional connection to her, but perhaps that would have clouded our listening to Summer, for as the reader, I depended on her words to give the only perspectives available – hers and her Uncle Ob. They are both saddened, and have difficulty moving on in their somewhat isolated existence. In steps their somewhat eccentric neighbor boy named Cletus, whose simplicity actually helps them to try to find clarity about their situation. I liked Summer’s insight on Cletus where she states: “Cletus had some gifts-I was learning this bit by bit-and knowing when to talk and when not to was turning out to be one of them.” (p. 56-57) He comes across information on a psychic, and Uncle Ob begins to put some blind hope into being able to talk to Aunt May in the afterlife, and so they set out on a “big” trip with their hopes in tow to visit this woman. Sadly, when they get to the town, they find that the psychic herself had passed away, which deflates their hopes and they head back home. First Cletus and Summer are afraid that Ob’s quiet disappointment means that he won’t stop off I-64 to let them see the “big city” capital of Charleston, but Ob has a moment that his tide changes. It seems that he knows he needs to move on, and takes them there to see the sights, including the famous gold dome of the capital. I definitely visualized that scene, as the capital building is quite close to the interstate on 64, and after seeing the rest of the state, could understand why Summer felt a pleasure about seeing it. She described it as:
“The capitol building sprawled gray concrete like a regal queen spreading out her petticoats, and its giant dome glittered pure gold in the morning sun. I felt in me an embarrassing sense of pride that she was ours. That we weren’t just shut-down old coal mines and people on welfare like the rest of the country wanted to believe we were. We were this majestic, elegant thing sitting, solid, sparkling in the light.” (p. 70-71)
The glittering of the dome becomes in a way a symbol for their new glimmer of hope for their futures, and that beauty still exists in what is a seemingly gray world. After finishing the book, it is easy to see why the book is divided into two parts – one entitled “Still as Night” and the second “Set Free” because in the end, they are indeed set free from the weight of grief and they are left with memories and hope. Rylant’s crafting in Missing May is trademark her, with a well written and easy to read chapter book as a result.
Newbery Medal Winner – 1993
This is my last post on a Rylant book, and I feel a sort of grief myself. I feel like I have had such an opportunity to get to know her this semester through our readings, class discussions, and yes, my drive through West Virginia during Spring Break. I have always read numerous Rylant books in my second grade classroom, and felt I knew about her crafting and how children interpret her writing rather well. However, I’m surprised to feel like as an adult reader, looking at books with a bit more of a keener eye for her inspirations and connectivity to so many of her written pieces. Once again, I pictured the mountain landscape, modest homes and lifestyle of many who live in West Virginia as I read Missing May.
This story involves four characters, three of which are still living, coping with the death of the fourth. Summer provides the first person perspective as the storyteller and is an orphan who, after many transitions, finally ends up happily living with her Uncle Ob and Aunt May. The reader comes into the story after Aunt May has passes away, and misses out on having a deeper emotional connection to her, but perhaps that would have clouded our listening to Summer, for as the reader, I depended on her words to give the only perspectives available – hers and her Uncle Ob. They are both saddened, and have difficulty moving on in their somewhat isolated existence. In steps their somewhat eccentric neighbor boy named Cletus, whose simplicity actually helps them to try to find clarity about their situation. I liked Summer’s insight on Cletus where she states: “Cletus had some gifts-I was learning this bit by bit-and knowing when to talk and when not to was turning out to be one of them.” (p. 56-57) He comes across information on a psychic, and Uncle Ob begins to put some blind hope into being able to talk to Aunt May in the afterlife, and so they set out on a “big” trip with their hopes in tow to visit this woman. Sadly, when they get to the town, they find that the psychic herself had passed away, which deflates their hopes and they head back home. First Cletus and Summer are afraid that Ob’s quiet disappointment means that he won’t stop off I-64 to let them see the “big city” capital of Charleston, but Ob has a moment that his tide changes. It seems that he knows he needs to move on, and takes them there to see the sights, including the famous gold dome of the capital. I definitely visualized that scene, as the capital building is quite close to the interstate on 64, and after seeing the rest of the state, could understand why Summer felt a pleasure about seeing it. She described it as:
“The capitol building sprawled gray concrete like a regal queen spreading out her petticoats, and its giant dome glittered pure gold in the morning sun. I felt in me an embarrassing sense of pride that she was ours. That we weren’t just shut-down old coal mines and people on welfare like the rest of the country wanted to believe we were. We were this majestic, elegant thing sitting, solid, sparkling in the light.” (p. 70-71)
The glittering of the dome becomes in a way a symbol for their new glimmer of hope for their futures, and that beauty still exists in what is a seemingly gray world. After finishing the book, it is easy to see why the book is divided into two parts – one entitled “Still as Night” and the second “Set Free” because in the end, they are indeed set free from the weight of grief and they are left with memories and hope. Rylant’s crafting in Missing May is trademark her, with a well written and easy to read chapter book as a result.
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