American Children’s Stories

This is a Book Week guest post for Monday’s theme Stars and Stripes from Sunny Wight (my cousin) who emigrated to America many years ago. And I guess it’s testament to how settled she is there that she uses American spelling (which I have kept in).

Miss Rumphius, story and pictures by Barbara Cooney

Miss Rumphius is a beautiful and perfect American tale. It was the first non-board, non-toddler book I bought for my daughter and despite the many children’s books we have read over the years, this remains my favorite one.

The narrator is a child who recounts the life of her Great-Aunt Alice. Beginning in late Victorian America and ending in the late 70’s (or thereabouts), the reader experiences a satisfying search for a meaningful life. As a child in New England, Alice helps her immigrant, artist Grandfather in his work and is enamored by his stories of faraway places. She vows to follow his example of seeing the world and settling by the sea; and while her Grandfather applauds her plan, he reminds her that she must also do something to make the world more beautiful.

As Miss Rumphius grows up, becomes a librarian and travels bravely to exotic places by herself, children are shown how we can be dependent upon just ourselves for our happiness. We feel the value of traveling and seeing the world and other cultures. Retiring to her cottage by the sea, Miss Rumphius sets out to make the world more beautiful, and she does this by sowing seeds that bloom into beautiful lupines all around her village. She becomes known as ‘The Lupine Lady’ and is thought to be the oldest woman in the world by the friends of her grand-niece (the narrator), also named Alice. The story ends with her telling her own stories to the local children, and reminding young Alice to make the world a more beautiful place.

For some, this story is a reminder of the perpetual intertwining of life and art. Personally, I have found this story gives a sweet message about how to live life well and to the fullest. Barbara Cooney has chosen every single word with such care and thought, and the pictures are absolutely gorgeous. Sweet and interesting, each image tells a story with charming detail.

The Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall and pictures by Barbara Cooney

I would like to give an honorary mention to another lovely American children’s book, The Ox-Cart Man. Filled with more delightful Barbara Cooney illustrations, this story is a historical recounting of rural 19^th century American life, featuring a young family of four. The book is so simple and yet so true.

This story is a circular tale of the seasons in a beautiful pastoral setting. It opens with the father filling his cart with items the family produced on their farm over the past year, to sell at the market. You watch his journey to Portsmouth where he sells everything he has including his ox and cart; stocks up with essential supplies and even some peppermint candies, and heads home. The farm year begins again with a new young ox, a new cart to be built, vegetables to be grown, livestock to be farmed and harvesting of maple syrup.

The images are so endearing, with countless smiling faces living this simple lifestyle. It is so sweet when the farmer kisses his ox on the nose as he says good-bye at the market – grateful for their partnership. From start to finish this book is absolutely delightful. My children are not familiar with true farming life, and so this is an excellent, timeless presentation of how farming works; including how goods are produced and exchanged, and how money is earned. I also love that this book presents (so beautifully) a life that is not filled with over-stimulation – a life more in-tune with nature and the outdoors; something that is still attainable today, if we choose.

You can find Sunny tweeting, writing and offering natural body giveaways on Facebook for her new company Natural Body Harmony.