![]() ![]() ![]() “That is all very well, little Alice”, her grandfather tells her, “but there is a third thing you must do… you must do something to make the world more beautiful”. Miss Rumphius begins as the story of a little girl who hears her grandfather’s stories and tells him that one day she, too, will visit faraway places and that she, too, will live by the sea. I flinch every time I read it, but I keep coming back. I read it to my son perhaps a hundred times, and if it weren’t for him thinking he’s outgrown the book (and being read to), I’d read it to him a hundred times more. “This book” is Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius (Viking Press, 1982 links below) – a picture book for young children that’s both lovely and profound. I hope you enjoy it, as I hope you’ve enjoyed a few others of my first 100. You’ll notice it hits some of my favourite themes (but not statistics everyone needs a break sometime). This is my 100th post on Scientist Sees Squirrel. Georg Rumpf, portrait from his Herbarium Amboinense (1741), public domain. Book cover, Miss Rumphius, Viking Press, fair use. Photo: Lupines at Svínafellsjökull, Iceland (photo S. ![]()
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