I unabashedly LOVE Missing May. I first read it back in, like, 3rd grade, and while it kind of went in one ear and out the other at the time, something must have stuck, because I searched it out to reread a number of years later, and absolutely fell in love with it. Even now, I have a tendency to reread it every couple years or so. Something about the language, I think--Rylant has some really beautiful sentences, in my opinion. And, of course, like you said, there's a note of hope in all that sadness. (I read Bridge To Teribithia sometime around thirteen, and while it didn't scar me, I can't say I've ever had the urge to revisit it.)

/gush