Rylant's writings for young adults tend to emphasize characterization, much as she does in Missing May. In A Kindness, love and faithfulness are explored as a single mother and her son cope with the breaking of the bonds of trust between them. Each grows while trying to deal with some of life's most difficult problems. By way of contrast, A Fine White Dust tells of a boy's religious faith and events that shake it, including betrayal by a preacher, making the boy wiser and more understanding of others. Like Missing May and much of Rylant's other novels. A Blue-Eyed Daisy takes place in Appalachia; the narrator, a girl about the age of Summer, tells of a year of hardship in school and at home, during which she matures and learns to fend for herself.