Missing May

I was very impressed with this story. I’d read it before and was a little timid about reading it a second time, but after reading it and now having discussed it with my group in class, I like it even more. When I read this story the first time, I hadn’t had a close experience with death in my family. Now, having lost my grandfather (I practically lived with my grandparents for almost 10 years), I felt like I was reliving that moment over and over while reading Missing May. I actually cried a lot. I can’t admit exactly how much, but it was a lot. Rylant does such a good job of illustrating the power of missing someone: it can take over your life, become an obsession to get them back, one way or another. Ob searched for May in the wind and in the power of the Bat Lady, but in the end, he found May in Summer and Cletus, remembering how she was in life and imagining what she would think of Cletus.

The theme of ‘coming home’ runs throughout the story, especially with Summer, the parent-less girl adopted by Ob and May. Summer is so accepting of Ob and May’s home in Deep Water, likening her first night with them as paradise. She describes ‘home’ as “a toy that God had been playing with and accidentally dropped out of heaven” (p. 5). I can imagine some kids would be judgmental and even resentful of the surroundings in Deep Water, but Summer is as resilient as kids come, insightful and thoughtful too. When Ob’s depression consumes him, Summer finally relents to Cletus, hoping that he can bring Ob back. On page 43, Summer is thinking “Guidance came to me in the form of a greasy-haired lunatic, and now, desperate, I am passing him the torch, hoping he can lead us out of this infernal darkness, this place none of us can anymore call home.” Here, the trailer is no longer home because it has lost the sense of comfort and companionship it once offered. The idea of home comes back again at the end of this particular chapter when Summer notes that the Bat Lady better have some answers “because we will have waded out too far, out past the point of no return, too far to ever make it home again.” Home is so important for Summer, as it was for May. In this way, holding on to home, Summer will hold on to May.

Cletus’ character was definitely interesting, and I’m wondering what Rylant’s inspiration was for him. Here is a young kid with a wise soul (because of his older parents?) that collects pictures and stories and carries them in a briefcase. It’s unusual, but not all that different from other people watchers who extrapolate deeper meaning in an airport or train station. It’s human nature to be curious; Cletus went a step further and carries his curiosity with him.

I felt so many different emotions throughout this book, including depression and defeat, joy and surprise. I wanted the Bat Lady to give them hope and I wanted Ob and Summer to find their redemption. In the end, they found each other and just kept on going. What a great message.