#290 of 1001 · May 17, 2021

Readers of Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius will surely come away with a deepened love of the environment and a heightened appreciation for the values of humanist thought. The book’s narrator relates the life of her great-aunt Alice Rumphius, whose life is depicted as one long flashback, a story within a story. Young Alice dreams of emulating her grandfather, traveling the world and settling down in a house by the sea. But, says Alice’s grandfather, there is a third thing she must do with her life: she must find a way to make the world more beautiful. Alice (or Miss Rumphius, as she is called as an adult), does indeed travel far and wide, and she does indeed buy a little cottage overlooking the ocean. For a time, she casts about for a way to make the world a better place. Eventually, she takes inspiration from the wind’s dispersal of her favorite flower, the lupine, and begins scattering seeds everywhere she goes. Lupines soon spread over the countryside, transforming the landscape and endearing Miss Rumphius to her community. Cooney’s clear, attractive prose and her soft-textured illustrations (colored-pencil-accented acrylic paintings on gesso-coated fabric) give us a longitudinal view of a life well lived, of meaning made and long-held dreams achieved. #flower #flowers #world #travel #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks