“When I grow up, I too will go to faraway places, and when I grow old, I too will live beside the sea,” Alice tells him while sitting on his knee and listening to his accounts of faraway places. Her seafaring relative inspires her to do several things with her own life. The story opens with little Alice who helps “put in the skies” on her grandfather’s paintings in his shop by the sea.Īs a child, Miss Rumphius listens to stories of her adventurous grandfather who once traveled all over the world. The National Book Award Winner for Young People’s Literature (1983) covers the span of Miss Alice Rumphius’s life and showcases Cooney’s lovely prose and her beautiful illustrations of distant places and lupine-covered landscapes. One of our all-time favorites from GG is Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. No, GG passes along classics like Blueberries for Sal and Harry the Dirty Dog, books that end up with creased bindings and careworn pages. Best of all, she doesn’t send run-of-the-mill children’s books – the ones you read and think, “I could write that” or unoriginal tales that fail to capture your child’s attention. The books are often autographed by their author and/or illustrator and always inscribed with the date and a personal note from GG. She frequently drops a book in the mail for the girls. Not surprisingly, she keeps our children’s bookshelves well-stocked. GG is a self-proclaimed bibliophile and book club devotee. Yet, even when we’re far from GG and back Down South, we have her books and her love for a good story within our reach. We treasure our summer visits to Maine where we can eat Fiddleheads (handpicked by GG) dipped in melted butter and sink our teeth into her famous Snickerdoodles while watching a loon dip under the glassy surface of a pristine lake surrounded by Hemlocks. We’re very fortunate that she’s eager to share all the loves of her life with our family.

Our beloved GG (great-grandmother Jean) loves many things – cooking, books, dogs, playing in the dirt, and Maine. I actually wrote the below review several years ago for a magazine. You never stop learning from Miss Rumphius. First up is: Miss Rumphius, an all-time favorite of mine and one the kids love as well. I’ve decided to start sharing some reflections on favorite books around here – the ones that we read over and over again. Regular readers know one of my favorite activities to do alone or with my kids is reading.

Miss rumphius illustrations