Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 67
 Each person can make the world beautiful October 18, 2009
J. Caplan (Sacramento, CA USA)
This is a beautiful and well written book that I highly recommend to all parents of young children. The idea that a single person can make the world a better place by the simple act of planting seeds, resonates with all of us and illustrates the idea that one person truly can make a positive impact on the world. I read this book to my granddaughter's kindergarten class. They enjoyed it so much that I then bought the book for every child in the class to take home.
A book of sheer poetry and beauty October 13, 2009
Judy K. Polhemus (LA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sometimes these Caldecott gold medal winners are quite a puzzle. Take "Miss Rumphius," for example. This is such an esoteric book, who would think it suitable for children? I read it--or tried to read it--to my five-year-old great-niece. Halfway through, she took the book, closed it, and said, "Let's save this for later," and pulled another book from the stack for me to read.
"Miss Rumphius" is unlike other children's books in that the story is really several levels above the average child's intelligence. Calling for adult understanding and reaction, this Caldecott must have appealed to the judges, as it did to me. You see, "Miss Rumphius" is about character development, maturity, beauty, exotic travel, experience--things a child is typically not asked to understand. Bottom line: The child who can "read" the message is a special child indeed and will "suck out the marrow" of life in his/her time as did Miss Rumphius.
Miss Rumphius lives near the sea where her foreign-born grandfather settled. He taught her two things: her desire to travel the world because her grandfather did, and to "do something to make the world more beautiful." Any such commands from beloved grandparents must surely be met! So she traveled, but still had not figured out how to make the world more beautiful.
One day she discovered that the seeds of the lupines she had planted had come up. She planted more, and more grew up. Then she decided to sow her five bushels of lupine seeds everywhere. The next spring lupines came up everywhere.
The last thing she did was to advise her great-niece, narrator of this story, to "make the world more beautiful," just as she had been told all those many years earlier. History has a way of repeating itself, especially if it has a solid lesson behind it.
The narrator, by bringing her friends to listen to her aunt's (Miss Rumphius) stories (just as Miss Rumphius did all those years before), then picking flowers to take home, and spreading seed in new and wilder places, is repeating history.
Oh yes, Miss Rumphius, you are so deserving of the Caldecott! I just hope all readers--no matter their age--appreciate you!
exploration inspiration September 24, 2009
M. Rogan
I had this book when I was a child, and it inspired me to travel the world and to somehow make it a better place. I recently purchased it to relive my memories, and it continues to excite and inspire me.
We love the Lupine Lady! September 15, 2009
B. Deptula (Connecticut)
Having been a big fan of Barbara Cooney's illustrations in the Ox Cart Man, I was excited to buy this book to share with my children, and it did not disappoint. The pictures are beautiful, and the story has a wonderful message to share with children: do something in your life to make the world more beautiful. It would make a great story to share in an elementary school classroom, or with your own children or grandchildren.
my children and I love this book July 8, 2009
Tom G. Willis (Portland, Oregon United States)
I loved reading this book to my children years ago. The youngest is now 12, the oldest 23, and we all still remember this book fondly.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 67
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