Fifteen books ~ #7 ~ Miss Rumphius

In my series on "fifteen books that will always stick with me," Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney is the seventh, alphabetically speaking.

I love this book. I told you two-and-a-half years ago it's my favorite children's book. I wish I could show you every picture in the book. It's the story of a girl whose grandfather had told her to do something in her life to make the world more beautiful. Little Alice grew up, traveled, and settled by the sea, and what she did to make the world more beautiful was to plant lupines all over the place. To see more of the pages, see a beautiful miss rumphius.

This book is a favorite of teachers. When I was new to blogging, I found a blog called The Miss Rumphius Effect and knew Tricia was my kind of person. Some teachers use the book to help children learn how to Be a Good Citizen with Miss Rumphius. And here's another web page about using Miss Rumphius.

A school principal chose this book to illustrate respect for the environment. And a home- schooling mother wrote about Miss Rumphius and Me on her blog, teaching me that lupines don't flower until the second year. This photo is what her first year's growth looked like.

Miss Rumphius ~ by Barbara Cooney, 1982, won the American Book Sellers National Book Award. It's an excellent book that I couldn't simply read and put down -- I stared at the pictures and drifted off into imagination. I think I could do a doctoral dissertation on this book! I rate Miss Rumphius 10 of 10.


Isn't this beautiful? Miss Rumphius must have been here! So what could YOU do to make the world more beautiful?