May Bird And The Ever After (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
This book is fantastic! I could relate to May wonderfully. I have a morbid streak and have grown up in the woods all my life. Like May I've had my ups and downs when it comes to fitting in. I think a lot of people can relate to that, especially those who are apart of the book's target age group. Ok, so it has ghosts and trees and a relatable heroine. So far so good. What else made me love this book? The writing style hands down. The writing style was really on par with the target audience. I never felt like I was being read/written down to. The style was matter of fact and never tried to make the story something it wasn't. The cast was lovely. I loved May because she had actual feelings. She was very human and that made her relatable. What she felt and thought were very honest and realistic. Heck, let's be honest who hasn't run around when they were a kid pretending to be the next Xena or the like? Yet, she's also very lonely. At times she's ok with it, and at times she isn't. With her she has Somber Kitty who turns out to have his own adventure and although he doesn't talk, he really does have a lovely personality. Even though the two get separated early on and have their own trials, they never loose hope. They keep on trying and creating new plans to get them where they need and want to go. May has to learn how to get along with people and how to appreciate the time she has by herself. She has to learn how to pull through something that is much, much bigger than her. Somber Kitty on the other hand has to learn how to be alone and that he really does need people. Most importantly, that it's ok to ask for help.The great thing is is that none of these lessons are shoved in the reader's face. They'll figure it out on their own while reading or after reading. As for the villains. Oooh wow! What I loved is that the main one is never really described, and yet its people's reactions to him that make the reader know he's scary. There's other monsters and bad guys that make an appearance and while they are frightening look wise, it's the personality that really makes them fearsome. In my opinion, that's how it should be done. All in all, I think this is a fun, fantastic read! I feel like this book is underrated and doesn't get the attention it deserves. It has wonderful elements and just the right amount of each. It's down to earth yet completely fantastical. I came away from this book felling like I had made a new best friend. I've now made it a tradition to read this book every October. It's quite worth it!
May Bird lives alone with her mother and her cat, Somber Kitty, on the edge of a wooded swamp in West Virginia. She loves to draw and make believe, and desperately wants to fit in at school but can't seem to figure out how. Most people aren't very comfortable in the woods, but Briery Swamp fits May Bird like a mitten. There, she is safe from school and the taunts and teasing of kids who don't understand her. Hidden in the trees, May is a warrior princess, and her cat is her brave guardian. Until May falls into the lake. When she crawls out, May finds herself in a world that is inhabited by things she thought were just in her imagination. A ghost has pulled her into the Ever After and she sees many ghosts and other amazing creatures. It is a place few living people have ever seen. Here, towns glow blue beneath zipping stars and the people walk through walls. Here the Book of the Dead holds the answers to everything in the universe. And here, if May is discovered, the horrifyingly evil Bo Cleevil will destroy her. May Bird must get out. Thus is the beginning of May Bird's daring journey into the Ever After, a haunting place where true friends -- and many terrible foes -- await her on every corner. She meets Pumpkin, her house ghost/guardian, who lives with the Beekeeper Arista in a giant house shaped like a beehive. She is told that she needs to go see the Lady of North Farm, a place no ghost is willing to go. She faces the Bogeyman, a henchman of Bo Cleevil's, whose suction cupped fingers will suck you into nothingness, and his dogs. Along the journey May learn true friends aren't just in her imagination.tI could connect May to me, text-to-self. I too feel comfortable in the woods and I would do almost anything for my cat, Lovey. I choose to be slightly set apart from common society, just like May. However I have never pretended to be a warrior princess, unlike May. May and I are different, yet we're very similar.tI gave this book four stars but I wanted to give it 4.5. I really liked this book. It was good and never dull from the first page to the last. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially kids aged somewhere between nine and thirteen. Me(11 and then 12), my dad(around 58), and my brother(16ish) all read this book and loved it, it's a perfect book for any age group. Be forewarned, if you start reading this book be sure to have the second and third books near by.
What do You think about May Bird And The Ever After (2006)?
I felt some empathy for May Bird, and her life, but what really drew me into this book was curiosity about the Ever After and ghosts and everything that goes along with it, which was fascinating.I also have to admit, I dearly loved Somber Kitty (even if not especially in those moments early in the book when he seems to merely frustrate and exasperate May herself with his loyalty and affection) and I loved that we got to follow pieces of his adventure along with May's. The narrow escape and high drama at the end of the book captured my attention and emotion more when it focused on poor, alone Somber Kitty than on the other group, to be honest.I was only mildly frustrated when I reached the end of the book and found that I evidently should have made sure to have book two on hand to begin immediately. I knew it was part of a series, but I didn't know it was going to be one of those that ends on not-quite-a-cliffhanger!
—Serena
May Bird falls into the Ever After with Pumpkin (and her cat Somber Kitty, though she thinks he has gone back home) and must travel among spectres and spirits who are terrified of the living in order to find her way back home, and maybe help a few dead people along the way.Amazon has reviews that list this book for Grades 5-8, Grades 4-7, and ages 9-12. It is the first in a series, and for the most part I found it interesting. I was distracted by the fact that May Bird and Somber Kitty were separated for most of the book, which is always a concern for me - animals in danger - and I would have found the book easier to read if not for that. It also started to drag a bit toward the end, but overall I found it a good read. There is a lot of humor to be had, if one has a rather dark sense of humor and appreciation for wit.
—Sarai
In this book I thought that it was really good, and it had a lot of details. It first stared out with Ally, and her cat. They where really close friends with each other. Until one day they woke up and they were in a forest surrounded by ugly animals looking at them like crazy. But everyone thought that they looked alike in may ways and some said that they looked different from each other. The same thing about them is that they both have hair on there body,they both live together in the same house,and they both have the same aditude. They are just alike in so many ways. The difference about them is that the cat is that its a animal,its a boy,and it has a differ personality because he is a mean cat and she is a nice human to hang out with. The difference about Ally is that she's a girl,she is a human,and she has a different personality because the way she asks in her ways. After reading this book the two characters I like the most is the cat and Ally. The reason why I like them more is that they like to fight with each other and they don't get a long. Every time they see each other they always fight 24-7. Sometimes they like each other and sometimes they don't that's why I peeked them two. I recommend this book to my cousien's because they like to fight a lot like cats and dogs.
—Drena C
