Miss Rumphius (original 1982; edition 1985)

by Barbara Cooney

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
6,354	169	1,508	(4.42)	24
As a child Great-aunt Alice Rumphius resolved that when she grew up she would go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age, and do something to make the world more beautiful--and she does all those things, the last being the most difficult of all.

▾Book information

Member:	srdr
Title:	Miss Rumphius
Authors:	Barbara Cooney
Info:	Puffin (1985), Paperback, 32 pages
Collections:	Children's books
Rating:
Tags:	None

Work Information

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

adventureherr, lihui, accbooks, hsmamaof3, lumenchristi, AylmerCOGLibrary, cmlfbiblioteca, livingbooksanctuary, rachlhouston

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Lists

Honey For a Child's Heart (132)

Five in a Row (23)

Ambleside Books (223)

» 7 more

Books Read in 2022 (4,890)

Under The Chinaberry Tree (60)

Beautiful Feet Books (167)

Early Picture Books (81)

Five in a Row (141)

Garden (7)

CCE 1000 Good Books List (479)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 24 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 168 (next | show all)

Barbara Cooney's story of Alice Rumphius, who longed to travel the world, live in a house by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful, has a timeless quality that resonates with each new generation. The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went. Miss Rumphius received the American Book Award in the year of publication.

PlumfieldCH | Sep 21, 2023 |

One of my favorite books as a child and potentially my first role-model. I still go crazy every time I find a hillside full of lupines. (

)

Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |

I was super duper skeptical of this book being my upcoming My First Books selection....and while I am unsure if I will use it in the actual storytime, I found this book BEAUTIFUL in its illustrations.

I love lupine. It's a favorite around the mountains. So scattering lupine around the oceans, oh the beauty! Leaving the world a more beautiful place than we left it. Making a difference. These are great life lessons for all readers. Miss Rumphius had seen the world but in the end, she made home a destination in and of itself. THIS is important to remember as we still live in Covid times. Home can be beautiful too. (

)

msgabbythelibrarian | Jun 11, 2023 |

A beautiful story that enhances creativity and inspires readers to make the world a better place. The book follows the life of a little girl and her journey on "making the world more beautiful." This would be a good book for 2nd-5th graders to inspire your students to explore and encourage them to do good. (

)

Jsmith20 | Mar 2, 2023 |

Wonderful children's book about a woman who decides that she wants to travel the world and live by the sea, but whose grandpa says she must do one more thing - make the world a more beautiful place. So she becomes a librarian and travels the world, and lives by the sea, and ends up spreading lupine seeds through her community, thereby becoming the Lupine Lady. (

)

phoenixcomet | May 6, 2022 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 168 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (2 possible)

▾Series and work relationships

Is contained in

The Penguin Book of Classic Children's Characters by Leonard S. Marcus

Miss Rumphius / Island Boy by Barbara Cooney

Books from Maine: A Raising Readers Collection by Raising Readers

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Miss Rumphius

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1982

People/Characters

Miss Rumphius

Alice

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Miss Rumphius (2000 | IMDb)

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

The Lupine Lady lives in a small house overlooking the sea.

Quotations

You must do something to make the world more beautiful.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Miss Rumphius

▾Book descriptions

As a child Great-aunt Alice Rumphius resolved that when she grew up she would go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age, and do something to make the world more beautiful--and she does all those things, the last being the most difficult of all.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Responding to And Analyzing Children’s books
Worksheet for data entry/ information will be transferred to database.
Your Name: Calleen Reis
Genre: Picture Book
Title: Miss Rumphius
Author/ Illustrator: Barbara Cooney
Awards:
Subject or Theme: Giving, caring, compassion, service to others.
Brief Summary of plot or format: Miss Rumphius is about doing one thing with your life that makes the world a more beautiful place.

What I want to remember about this book: That it is important, even in my small sphere of influence, to do just ONE thing that might make the world a more beautiful place.

Characters: Name, M/F/, age, details, ethnicity, actions
Miss Rumphius comes to America as a child and an European immigrant. She grows up and finds what her “contribution” is to the world.
Setting: Hmmm – Big city to rural setting. Probably during the Industrial Revolution times when there were lots of European immigrants to America.
Additional features or artistic details: I LOVE THE ART. The water colors of Barbara Cooney are so colorful, cheerful, warm and enveloping. If I had the money I would own a piece of Barbara Cooney’s art because it would make me feel good to look at it every day!

Professional/personal opinion or possible use in classroom or library: Naturally, I have students try to think about what will be the ONE thing they can do to make the world a more beautiful place.

Haiku summary