Miss Rumphius

Miss Rumphius is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Barbara Cooney and originally published by the Viking Press in 1982. 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 was inspired by a real-life "Lupine Lady," Hilda Hamlin, who spread lupine seeds along the Maine coast, as well as Cooney's own experiences traveling the world. Cooney and William Steig (Doctor De Soto) shared the 1983 National Book Award for Children's Books in the Hardcover Picture Books category. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named 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 the School Library Journal. The Lupine Award of the Maine Library Association is named in honor of the 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.