The Story of May

by Mordicai Gerstein

The month of May travels to meet her father December, and meets all of her relatives, the other months of the year, on the way.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Mordicai Gerstein was an American artist, writer, and film director, best known for illustrating and writing children's books. He illustrated the comic mystery fiction series Something Queer is Going On.

Reviews

[M.M. Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fun from the very first words. The character May is a young girl who learns the things of Spring. Her Mother April teaches her but soon she becomes lost. She runs into her aunt June whom she finds out that she has a father, December. This sends her on her quest.

I loved how each month is represented with colorful words that suck you in and take you along with the journey. Each character, represented by months, is as wild and precious as the next. The reader learns a little bit about each month as May hops through the year on her pursuit to find her father.

The illustrations for each is done bold and colorful and is described well by the words that have been written.

Although this book is targeted for 4-8 year old's, I feel this book is meant to be for an older child who can read well. The paragraphs are complex and well written. I do not believe younger children that need to be read to would sit long enough. Although, I could see this book used in a shorter study of the months.

Excellent book and deserves 5 stars!

Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Naila Moon

[Cari ☾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute!!

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lived in the Southern Hemisphere for most of my life, I find I always have to do a lot of calculations in my head about which of our months are equivalent to the Northern Hemisphere ones in terms of the seasons. That was certainly the case for this book, in which all the months of the year are personified (in their N. H. manifestations).

The central character is May, who is the daughter of April, but who doesn't know who her father is. She is a child, still, and travels around the world, meeting each of her relatives, to find her father (December), then travel back home. Some of the months claim to be April's siblings, and some claim to be December's siblings, possibly to draw attention away from the incestuous implication of the family relationships. May meets one grandfather, August, and one grandmother, November. The only other grandchild appears to be March, son of February (no father mentioned), but he is full grown.

May learns that once all the months moved around when and where they wanted, but when April and December fell in love, they didn't always get along so well, and the resulting chaos ended in a family ruling to split them to different ends of the world, and each of the months to their own timeframe. But sometimes they visit each other - and that's why we might get a warm breeze in winter, or sleet in spring, etc.

I liked the idea of the story, but it didn't hold much resonance for me, and I wasn't a fan of the art.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations with an interesting story of the months of the year. The story begins with April waking up May, who is a little girl. May travels to meet the rest of the months of the year on her way to meet her father who is December. Then she travels again and meets January through March to get back to her mother April. My favorite illustration is for November which is one of my favorite months.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really neat book about months of the year! It is super creative. Little May wants to visit her Dad who is Decemeber. She visits aunts and uncles and grandmother, and back to April, her mom.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, sweet, and lovely book!!

[MaryJo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful concept.

[Alexis Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite children’s book. Beautiful illustrations

[Christine Walsvick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I ever fell in love with as a young girl. After 20 years, I finally tracked it down and ordered myself a hard copy to keep in my home library. I had only remembered the illustrations, but not the title, so it was years of searching... The illustrations are so fascinating. Really subtle details and so many metaphors. And it’s a really neat, poetic story as well. It’s really a story about life, earth, and time. Honestly, I cry when I read it.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The month of May is personified as a petite young girl, the daughter of April and December. She travels through the year to meet her Father for the first time, seeing all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Inventive story and beautiful illustrations. My favorite picture is July, her rotund, brown-skinned uncle, holding a ginormous watermelon.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, it's got great illustrations and it's a fun concept. On the other hand, my kid is three, and he has no idea yet that married people have fights and separate and get divorced. I'm not interested in introducing that idea to him and causing unnecessary anxiety. So I skipped that part. It was a little awkward to do so, but he's not very discerning yet, so he didn't mind.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book every time I visit my grandparents house, and every time I love it.

[Cindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations. A traipse through the months. An inventive idea and since we actually have a May at our house, all the more enjoyable.

[Chelsey]

Picture Book

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for when your toddler has a longer attention span. Really amazing way to teach about the months of the year. My kids were captivated. Beautiful pictures as well.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, beautiful, creative, touching story. I am constantly amazed that Mordecai Gerstein isn't more of a household name... Better than most childrens authors/illustrators out there!

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great!

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fable-esque tale of a little girl month (May) going to see all her relations. Love how the different months are depicted by different people.

Beautiful illustrations.

[Bun ☾⚢ · Rating 5 out of 5]

a childhood favorite book <3 some of the prettiest illustrations i’ve ever seen!

[Izi · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting personification of all the months and the story behind them.