Customer Reviews
It's a good book, it's just not one that grabs me 
2008-08-24
First, let me mention that this is a pretty wordy book. Maybe a bit too wordy, because it does seem to drag on in parts. I'm constantly cutting out a paragraph here or there because it doesn't add much to the story and I really want to get on with things anyway.
And, you know, it is a nice story - about a woman who "makes the world more beautiful" by planting lupines - but there just isn't much to it.
It's not very compelling to me. We read it only occasionally.
Wildflowers 
2008-07-11
A co-worker talked about this book at an event and after previewing it, I took it out from the library for then four year old. A few months later, when we are at a book store, she spotted it and had to buy it as a present to herself for turning 5 - with her own birthday money. I think that says volumes to the books lasting power. The story is sweet, the drawings are excellent, and the message is lasting. Nice read for a parent to a child at the end of a long day.
Wonderful story 2008-06-19
This is a great story about giving back something in life. Great gift idea when combined with a real Lupine plant or seeds. Then the story and flower will be remembered forever.
Beatiful 2008-06-05
I just left home and school to live on my own as an intern in DC. I've been doing lots of responsible adult type activities, cooking, waking up early, cleaning etc and was feeling a little strange about feeling so old. As I was walking to work this morning, I took a slightly different route that had a house with lupines just covering their yard. They looked so beautiful in the morning. I immediately thought to myself "what was that book with these flowers??" and called up my lovely mother. It felt like a long lost dream. I could remember the symbolism, but not the specifics. When I was young, I think I was enthralled with little Alice being able to paint the clouds and even more so when she becomes a librarian and transforms the landscape by the sea. This is a truly amazing book. I'm going to walk to the library tonight and check it out again. It definitely made me appriciate beauty in the world as a child, and through my memory of it, as an adult.
Wonderful Book! 2008-04-28
This book is a short biography of Barbara Conney's great Aunt Alice Rumphius, who grew up in New England, loved the sea, and wanted to visit faraway places. And also had an objective to do something to make the world more beautiful. I have always loved this book and have had that very same goal ever since the fifth grade when our homeroom teacher read it to us. The book concludes when Barbara Cooney the author says that her Aunt Alice (Miss Rumphius,) tells her that she too needs to do something to make the world more beautiful. But even SHE doesn't know yet what that could be. I personally think that she made the world more beautiful by writing and illustrated this masterpiece. Everybody young and old should have a copy.
Miss Rumphius 2008-03-24
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.
gift idea 2008-02-18
This book is one of my all-time favorites. What an inspirational story of living life with intention! Many reviewers here have already shared the details of the story, so I will simply add that this book makes a lovely gift- just tuck in a packet of lupine seeds!
Great book, great message 2008-01-18
This was my daughter's favorite book when she was young. We purchased it this year for our friends' daughter. The story is sweet and it has a message that we should all try to make the world a better place.
I LOVE This Book 2007-12-22
As a Pre-K teacher I read this book to my 4 year-olds and each group of children loved it. I've read it many times now and each time I read it, I get a really good feeling from it. If you're a parent looking for a good, thoughtful book, this is one of the best. If your child is four or five, you might want to break the reading into two or three parts; leave off at a really good part and you'll keep your kids on the edge of their seats waiting for the next reading. It always worked for my little ones. This story gets them thinking-great discussion book.
I DO WISH THERE WAS MORE MISS RUMPHIUS IN ALL OF US. 2007-11-10
If you read only one book with your child this year, I certainly would recommend that this be the one. This little book carries one of the most profound messages I have ever read in either an adult book or a childs story. Why are we here? This is the question a little girl asks of her grandfather one day while setting on his knee. His answer, although simple, is one of the most thought provoking I think I have ever read. "Do something to make the world more beautiful," may at first seem simple, but when you think about it, it is probably the best advice you could give a child of any age, on this particular subject.
This story tells of this little girl as she grows older and graphically tell of how "Miss Rumphius" did just what her grandfather told her to do. Each of us need not choose Miss Rumphisus' method of making the world more beautiful, indeed we should not, but each of us has the capability, how ever small it may be in our own circumstances. What a wonderful lesson to teach children!
The story is beautifully told and the illustrations are of top quality in this book. The story is easy to read, easy to follow, and will certainly start your child thinking and asking questions. I really would recommend that you purchase a hard back on this one, as you will no doubt be giving this work quite a few rereads. I cannot recommend this one enough. (By the way, I use Morning Glories rather tha Lupines).
