Module 1: Miss Rumphius

Bibliography: Cooney, B. (1982). Miss Rumphius. New York, NY: The Viking Press.

Summary: This story chronicles the life of a woman named Alice as she grows from a little girl into an old woman.  Alice decides to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather by visiting faraway places, creating a home by the sea, and doing something to make the world more beautiful.  She accomplishes the first task by visiting a tropical island, climbing tall mountains, and riding a camel to the Land of the Lotus-Eaters.  Alice, or Miss Rumphius as she is now called, eventually stops traveling and lives in a house by the sea.  She decides to accomplish her third task by sowing lupine seeds all over town so that everyone can enjoy the beautiful blue and purple and rose-colored flowers.  This earns her the title of Lupine Lady.  The Lupine Lady, now a very old woman, passes on her knowledge to her great-niece and the niece’s friends.  She tells them that they can visit faraway places and live by the sea but must also “do something to make the world more beautiful”.

Impressions:  I really enjoyed this book.  Not only did the author do a superb job with the artwork but also managed to use her pictures to bring the most important scenes in the story to life.  I was particularly taken with the pictures showing the town Miss Rumphius lived in before she sowed her lupine seeds and afterwards.  The flowers Miss Rumphius planted did indeed make the world a beautiful place.  Young children should enjoy this book for its pictures and sweet story but also for the lessons it teaches.  As Miss Rumphius says “The world already is pretty nice” but there is always something you can do to make it more beautiful.

Reviews:

“The narrator is a child, elderly Miss Rumphius’s great-niece, telling the story — partly as her great-aunt has told it to her, partly in her own droll way — to other children. The text is pithy, exquisitely paced, and consistently interesting. In composition and execution, the pictures are a leap and a bound beyond their counterparts in Ox-Cart Man. We are not looking at a scene, we are on the scene; Cooney has raised the sightline and let the forms bleed off the page.” - Horn Book Guide, Barbara Bader

Bader, B. (2000). Barbara Cooney. Horn Book Magazine (Fall 2000 ed.). Retrieved from http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2000/sep00_bader.asp

“When Miss Rumphius was a small girl, her grandfather told her she could travel and live by the sea as she wanted, but she must also do one more thing—in some way make the world more beautiful. She grows up, works, and travels, but how she can accomplish the charge given her is still a puzzle. After an injury lays her low and gives her time to think, she hits upon an idea. She will plant lupines—blue, purple, and rose-colored flowers—all over the fields and lanes near her house. Now an old lady, she passes this legacy of duty on to her great-niece, the narrator of the story. Cooney is in a tranquil mood here, and both the quiet text and serenity of full-color acrylic paintings portray this feeling. The artwork, almost primitive in style, is masterful, but the story itself has an adult feel and, without adult guidance, not all young children will respond.” — Booklist Online, Ilene Cooper

Cooper, I. (1982) Miss Rumphius Review. Booklist Online. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/Miss-Rumphius-Barbara-Cooney/pid=2653208

Suggestions for Use in a Library:

Make the world more beautiful!  With permission from your library director, plant a small flower garden outside the library.  Let the children each plant a flower in the garden and tell them that they have done something to make the world a more beautiful place.