Death can be a touchy subject for many people, particularly for young people, yet it is a subject that frequently appears in modern-day literature for young adults. The idea of death shapes much of Missing May.

May herself is already dead when the novella begins. Her husband Ob suffered a spiritual death when she died; much of the novella concerns his effort to reunite with his wife, even though she is dead, and he appears to wish he were dead, too. Summer fears the dying she sees. May and Ob have given her a home when no one else would.

May's death takes from her one of the two people on earth who loved her. Ob appears to be following May into death; this would leave Summer once again homeless and dependent on people who care nothing for her. Ob's eventual acceptance of his responsibility to...