Missing May

By: Cynthia Rylant

Realistic Fiction

~This is a great book about a young girl named Summer. Her parents passed away when she was very younge, and she was passed from household to household becuase no one really wanted her. Then, one day Aunt May and Uncle Ob came along and decided they would take her home and raise her in West Virginia, even though they were already an older couple. May and Ob took Summer in and loved her like she was their own daughter. There was so much love in that house, untill one day May passed away while she was in her garden. Summer and Ob are in so much pain becuase they just dont know how to live life without May. A little boy who lives down the road, Cletus, started coming around and he made Ob feel a little better. Summer, Ob, and Cletus try to find ways to reach to May on the other side. All of their attempts fail and Summer is afraid she will loose Ob forever. Then on the way back from their last adventure to reach may, something in Ob changes, and he decides he will be able to go on without May. Ob takes Cletus and Summer to the Capitol building and shows them around which Summer sees as a sign that Ob will be ok.

~This book is all about Summer and Ob missing their loved one, May. It is about how they finally come to terms with her death, and realize that she will always be with them, but they must move on with their lives. To use this in a classroom you could apply it as text-to-self and have students make connections to the story about a time in their life when they were upset about something or lost a loved one. They can write a journal entry, or paper on how they coped with this like Summer did in the story.