Miss Rumphius Meeting the King of an Indonesian Fishing Village illustrated by Barbara Cooney. The book opens with the narrator telling readers about a little old woman nicknamed 'The Lupine Lady' who 'lives in a small house overlooking the sea.' The story of her Great Aunt, Miss Rumphius, begins to unfold, starting when her aunt was just a little girl named Alice.

The Lupine Award of the Maine Library Association is named in honor of this book, as is the New Jersey Center for the Book's Miss Rumphius Award given to librarians and teachers who develop creative activities to support literacy education.

Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the book as one of its 'Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children.' In 2012 it was ranked number 13 among the 'Top 100 Picture Books' in a survey published by School Library Journal. Miss Rumphius was inspired by the real life 'Lupine Lady,' Hilda Hamlin, who spread lupine seeds along the Maine coast, as well as Cooney's own experiences traveling the world.Ĭooney and William Steig ( Doctor De Soto) shared the 1983 National Book Award for Children's Books in the hardcover Picture Books category.

It features the life story of fictional Miss Alice Rumphius, a woman who sought a way to make the world more beautiful and found it in planting lupines in the wild. Miss Rumphius is a picture book for children written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney and first published by Viking Books in 1982.

Miss rumphius