I think Rylant has a talent for sounding folksy without sounding quaint or laying it on to thick. I really enjoyed that in Missing May, that Summer sounds so individual (and like an individual from a very specific place). And she does have a way with words: I liked, for instance, her description of Uncle Ob's whirligigs, or Cletus's suitcase of pictures.

Maybe it's one of those books like Charlotte's Web that is good when you're young, but even better when you get older?

I think I found Terabithia so upsetting because I expected it to be one of my favorite kinds of books - either "friends invent imaginary world" or "friends find door to magical world," I wasn't picky which.

And then...it so is not that.