Missing May

Summer was a 6-year-old orphan when she met the aunt and uncle who took her home to be their child forever. Six years later when her aunt, May, dies, Summer must find her way alone through the stunned grief both she and her uncle carry inside. Frances McDormand reads Summer's hopeful and confused narration in a slow, Southern cadence, which fully captures her and brings her to life. With a simple delivery, honoring the quiet integrity of Rylant's character, McDormand engages the reader in Summer's struggle to convey the intensity of her relationships with her uncle and aunt. A variety of music, much of it Southern mountain folk music, is effectively employed to emphasize moods in the text. T.B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

March 2, 1992
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.