Module 2 Miss Rumphius

Bibliography

Cooney, Barbara (1982). Miss Rumphius. New York NY: Puffin

Miss Rumphius tells the story of a little girl who wants to travel to far away places. Her grandfather encourages her to do that, but he also tells her that she must do something to make the world more beautiful. After traveling around the world, she settles down by the sea, but she still hasn’t found what she wants to do to make the world a more beautiful place. As she gets older, she develops a bad back which keeps her bed-ridden much of the time. On day she notices the beautiful lupines that she had planted in her garden before her back got bad. The wind had spread the seeds and this gave her the idea that this would be her way to make the world more beautiful. She begins taking long walks and throws lupine seeds while she walks. The more she walked, the better her back felt and her lupines blossomed far and wide.




Review
This beautiful picture book tells of the life of the author's great aunt Alice, now called The Lupine Lady. When she was little, Alice told her grandfather that she wanted to do as he did: go to far away places and live in a house by the sea. He told her that she must also do something to make the world more beautiful.
She accomplishes all she set out to do: traveling to tropical islands, climbing mountains before she hurts her back falling from a camel and decides to live by the sea. Her need to make the world more beautiful is a source of consternation to her.
Her solution of spreading lupine seeds wherever she walks is at first inadvertent - birds and the wind disperse lupine seeds from some she had planted in her garden before her bad back forced her into a semi-invalided life. When she sees new plants growing on nearby hillsides and cliffs, she spreads the seed herself after she feels better.
The illustrations are exquisite. They have the appearance of watercolors but were accomplished with acrylics and colored pencil. Several pages show a vast expanse of sea, marsh and land. Colors fade into the mist and just the right look of misty mornings by the sea is created.
This book was reviewed by Carol Otis Hurst in Teaching K-8 Magazine.

Miss Rumphius is a great book to share with preschoolers during a storytime about spring or flowersto talk about beautiful flowers, It could also be a time to discuss things and finding ways to make their world more beautiful.