Spreading Beauty

When my children were young we had a book that was read so often we eventually had to buy a new one. I kept the first one and recently found it in my oldest daughters keepsake box. I was reminded how beloved the lupine lady had been.

Miss Rumphius is a story narrated for us by a niece about her beloved great auntie. She tells us about the spectacular life of Miss Rumphius and how, when she was young, she traveled all over the world. Through all her adventures she remembers her grandfather telling her to follow her dreams but to be sure to do something that makes the world a more beautiful place. When she becomes an old women and settles down by the sea, she eventually decides the best way to spread beauty is to spread lupine seeds wherever she walks. The townspeople think she is crazy until spring comes and, much to everyone's surprise, there are beautiful blue, purple and rose colored flowers everywhere.

My children's father read it to the kids often and would occasionally give the book, with a packet of lupine seeds attached, to a mother-to-be at their baby shower. Once he bought a bag of seeds and spread them on the hillside opposite our backyard, hoping to surprise the kids with a hillside of color. The seeds did not flourish tremendously but they did show up and were lovely.

The story, which is based on an actual lady that lived in Maine, has a feminist feel to it and I love Miss Rumphius' determination to live out her dreams. The folk art drawings by the author, Barbara Cooney, have a soft, sweet charm.

Here is a bit about the "real Miss Rumphius" Hilda Edwards.