60-day returns • free shipping on USA orders $129+
Miss Rumphius vs introducing ecological problems
- This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 7 months ago by
.
Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
- Posts
We just came back from visiting my MIL in Maine where I discovered they have a love-hate relationship with the Lupine. They love the way the flowers look and how beautiful it is when there are fields and rocks covered in them, but they hate how invasive, really invasive, they are. They are literally choking out the native flora to the point that they are being removed from many parks and public lands. So now I feel confused about this book; it is no longer a simple, beautiful, uncomplicated story. My children love it and still bring it to me to read, but I now get a funny uneasy feeling when I do.
Has anyone else experienced this with this book or another? What did you do?
I think it would depend on the age and experience of the child. For very young ones I would probably just enjoy the story. As they get older it may be a good story to bring into nature or science studies, about being careful of introducing new plants/animals , etc to a new home area.
I also see how it could be a good character study, of sharing our gifts and talents with those around us, but we need to be careful to allow others to shine in their own way too.
We need to be careful not to take our own conflicts with a story and place them on our kids. Again, how you handle it would depend on their ages.
The book isn’t about lupines. It’s about one person’s ability to make a difference in the world. The lupines are incidental. I agree with butterflylake, when your children are older you might point out that we often don’t know what species might become invasive, which is a really good reason not to spread non-native plants around with abandon, or release starlings, or plant kudzu. 🙂 You might instead research more native things, and then go plant native milkweed varieties, or something. But that’s really not what the book is about!
Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
- The topic ‘Miss Rumphius vs introducing ecological problems’ is closed to new replies.