Summer is the protagonist, or main character, of the novel. Because Rylant has written Missing May in the first person, Summer tells the story from her perspective as she experiences and understands it. Summer spent the first six years of her life in Ohio. After her mother died, she was passed around among her aunts and uncles. Summer knew that nobody wanted her, but that didn't dampen her spirit. She saved the love that she imagined was in her heart, given to her by her mother, for people who wanted to love her. When she met her Aunt May and Uncle Ob, things clicked, and it was love at first sight. She went home, to West Virginia, with her Aunt May and Uncle Ob to live with them in their broken down trailer. Summer was elated. May and Ob doted on her, treating her as though she was their very own child. She loved them and their eccentric ways as much as they loved her. She felt as though she had "died and gone to heaven."
Summer is 12 years old when Aunt May dies. She misses May terribly and is aware that Ob does, too. Summer recognizes that she and Ob are "not strong" anymore. She assumes the responsibility for trying to mend Ob's broken heart (an impossible task) in an attempt to hold onto as much of the old, familiar, comfortable life that she had known with May and Ob.
Cletus Underwood befriends Ob, and eventually, Summer. At first, Summer resents Cletus' presence. She is jealous of Cletus because he puts a sparkle in Ob's eyes when she can't. Over time, she begins to appreciate Cletus and is grateful for his attention to Ob. Because Ob spends more and more time talking to Cletus, Summer feels as though she has been left to fend for herself and she doesn't know what to do about it.
