Miss Rumphius

Miss Rumphius, written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, is the cute story of the life of Miss Rumphius from childhood to old age.  Miss Rumphius learns from her grandfather as a child and he tells her to live by the sea, travel to far a-way lands, and make the world a more beautiful place.  So, Miss Rumphius spends her adult life traveling from Islands, to mountains, to deserts, to forests, etc.  until one day she hurts her back and decides it is time to live by the sea.  Then as she grows old she comes up with a way to make the word a better place.  She walks around her town spreading lupine seeds so that the next year the town is covered in beautiful flowers.  Everyone then knows her as the Lupine Lady.  With this Cooney ends the story saying she is still trying to figure out how to make the world a better place bringing the story to a nice close.  The pictures are simple and endearing.  They set the light tone of the book throughout and are brilliantly done.  I liked the piture of her meeting Bapa Raja on the tropical island where they are surrounded by dozens of children.  The expressions on all the kids are so great.  The pictures remind me of puzzles I used to do with my mom.

Barbara Cooney was born on August 6, 1917 in Brooklyn New York.  She graduated from Smith College and her first illustrations for a book were published.  She worked in the Women’s Army Corps. during the second World War.  Most of her work is described as folk, both in writing style and drawing style.  Her work is greatly celebrated throughout the literary community.  She died on March 10, 2000.