Status
Available
Local notes
821 Mac
Collection
Genres
Publication
Anansi International (2018), Edition: First Edition, 128 pages
Description
"All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. These are the words of the natural world--dandelion, otter, bramble and acorn, all gone. The rich landscape of wild imagination and wild play is rapidly fading from our children's minds. The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. It is a joyful celebration of nature words and the natural world they invoke. With acrostic spell-poems by award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane and hand-painted illustration by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book captures the irreplaceable magic of language and nature for all ages."--
Awards
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing (Nominee — 2019)
Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration (Nominee — 2019)
Books Are My Bag Readers Award (Shortlist — 2017)
James Cropper Wainwright Prize (Shortlist — 2018)
Waterstones Book of the Year (Shortlist — 2017)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017
Physical description
128 p.; 11 inches
User reviews
LibraryThing member bookwren
Incredibly beautiful watercolors accompanied by lyrical acrostic poems sprinkled with humor, pathos, love, beauty and hope. But it is the reason for compiling this book which is so compelling and unbelievable. The Oxford English Dictionary committee removed the words in this book from their
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children's dictionary. How could they remove such exquisite words, let alone the animals, plants and birds themselves? They said it was to add more "modern" words from the technological age. Yet our children are already too distant from the natural world. They need to know the kingfisher and the fern, the wren and the newt and all the other words of nature in order to respect and protect these treasures. The Lost Words is a paen to what we are losing, a voice for nature, and a plea for sanity. Do not take away what is alive and authentic in this world and replace it with what is inanimate and artificial. Read this book, share the words, say them aloud, teach them, take children (and adults) into nature and show them the animals, plants and birds that are out there, that are NOT lost. Show Less
LibraryThing member adrianburke
Lovely book. Lovely pictures and well chosen words.
LibraryThing member Brightman
Very nostalgic art for me...
LibraryThing member streamsong
This is a beautiful book – the poetry is wonderful and the watercolor illustrations are marvelous. My biggest regret is that I don’t have a youngster around to share this with. In the meantime, although I checked this out from the library, it’s on my wish list to have my own copy.
The
The
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illustrations are available as fine art prints, posters and even postcard size images. I’d love to have one in my home. Show Less
LibraryThing member Helenliz
This is spectacular. I bought it after seeing, completely by chance, an exhibition of the artwork. It's a large format book, and the artwork most certainly deserves it. The gold is almost icon-like in its intensity. The printing looses something of the vivid gold, but that is a minor deficiency.
And then there's the text. Each plant animal or bird is described in rhyme and takes the form of an acrostic, with each line spelling out the creature of plant that is the subject of the text. They are mesmerisingly beautiful. Some of them very short, some of them longer. All of them capture something of the nature of the creature of plant. There's lots of fabulous use of language in here, word play, almost tongue twister like word combinations. It's a joy to read.
If you're looking for a special book for a child, a non-reigious christening present, for example, you could do a lot worse than this. It is beautful in every way.
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And then there's the text. Each plant animal or bird is described in rhyme and takes the form of an acrostic, with each line spelling out the creature of plant that is the subject of the text. They are mesmerisingly beautiful. Some of them very short, some of them longer. All of them capture something of the nature of the creature of plant. There's lots of fabulous use of language in here, word play, almost tongue twister like word combinations. It's a joy to read.
If you're looking for a special book for a child, a non-reigious christening present, for example, you could do a lot worse than this. It is beautful in every way.
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LibraryThing member willszal
This is a book which premise exceeds its implementation. The concept: a few years back, the Oxford Junior dictionary removed a couple dozen words related to nature and replaced them with words related to technology. A poet and a painter got together to create a book of spells to invoke these lost
The most striking part in reading the book for the first time is the words that have been removed—acorn, ivy, dandelion, fern. What would it be like to have a childhood without these beings?
There are pages with alphabet clouds, and these feel a little out of place. The gold background on much of the imagery also feels as though it detracts from the art. Additionally, some of the poems feel only tangentially related to the animals and don't speak to their essence.
Overall though, it is a beautiful work with an amazing backstory.
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beings.The most striking part in reading the book for the first time is the words that have been removed—acorn, ivy, dandelion, fern. What would it be like to have a childhood without these beings?
There are pages with alphabet clouds, and these feel a little out of place. The gold background on much of the imagery also feels as though it detracts from the art. Additionally, some of the poems feel only tangentially related to the animals and don't speak to their essence.
Overall though, it is a beautiful work with an amazing backstory.
Show Less
LibraryThing member overthemoon
A beautiful book with fabulous illustrations
LibraryThing member dasam
A children's book.
A book for adults to read to children.
A set of spells to enchant adults.
A book of beautiful art for heart's sake.
A book of lost words for what may become lost worlds.
A spellbook that helps children spell and say the words for wild and free.
A book for children to save themselves
A book for children to chant to adults..
before it the words for wild things
are too gone to be remembered.
A book for adults to read to children.
A set of spells to enchant adults.
A book of beautiful art for heart's sake.
A book of lost words for what may become lost worlds.
A spellbook that helps children spell and say the words for wild and free.
A book for children to save themselves
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from what we have helped them lose.A book for children to chant to adults..
before it the words for wild things
are too gone to be remembered.
Show Less
LibraryThing member PDCRead
Gone are the days when children’s alphabets would begin with A is for Acorn, B is for butterfly and C is for caterpillar. Now days it is likely to be A is for Acer, B is for Blackberry and C is for Cisco. Back in 2015, The Oxford University Press dropped around 50 words that were drawn from the
One of the other signatories to the letter was Robert Macfarlane. He has been collecting words on and about the natural world for many years and if you follow his Twitter feed you will see him post a new word every day expounding the delights of the world around us. But he was in a position to do something else about it too. Words that had been floating away in the air like seeds from a dandelion clock have been found and rehomed in this sumptuous book written by Macfarlane and the artist Jackie Morris; The Lost Words.
It is not a long book, the spells written by Macfarlane (he claims that he is not a poet, but he is wrong) has a resonance that is soothing and salient at the same time as well as having their roots deep in the natural world. It is the pictures that make this book really special though; Morris’s art for this book is richly portrayed, full of energy and life, there are letters that swirl across a page, she has captured the steely look from a raven and the blur of a kingfisher just perfectly. It is primarily a book for children, but many others will find solace in the way that it seeks to lead people back into the natural world make this such a special book to possess.
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natural world from the latest edition of its Junior dictionary; they argued that it was less relevant as children were spending less time outside and were glued to the screen of a tablet or phone. The alarm that this caused was quite noticeable, authors such as Morpurgo, Attwood and Maitland wrote to the OUP asking for them to be reinstated in the dictionary.One of the other signatories to the letter was Robert Macfarlane. He has been collecting words on and about the natural world for many years and if you follow his Twitter feed you will see him post a new word every day expounding the delights of the world around us. But he was in a position to do something else about it too. Words that had been floating away in the air like seeds from a dandelion clock have been found and rehomed in this sumptuous book written by Macfarlane and the artist Jackie Morris; The Lost Words.
It is not a long book, the spells written by Macfarlane (he claims that he is not a poet, but he is wrong) has a resonance that is soothing and salient at the same time as well as having their roots deep in the natural world. It is the pictures that make this book really special though; Morris’s art for this book is richly portrayed, full of energy and life, there are letters that swirl across a page, she has captured the steely look from a raven and the blur of a kingfisher just perfectly. It is primarily a book for children, but many others will find solace in the way that it seeks to lead people back into the natural world make this such a special book to possess.
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LibraryThing member Lynsey2
This is a gorgeous book!
LibraryThing member Figgles
Beautiful book - I put it on a stand and turned a page or two a day to savour the glorious illustrations.
LibraryThing member Iudita
The audio production of this little book of nature poems was incredible. This book is a celebration of words and sounds, full of rhyme and alliteration, all narrated against a backdrop of rain and spectacular birdsong. It was joyful, soulful and totally relaxing to listen to. Based on some of the
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other reviews, it sounds like the illustrations in the print version are beautiful and I plan to buy myself a paper copy immediately. This is a book to read/listen to over and over for a lifetime. Show Less
LibraryThing member Fliss88
In my opinion a book that deserves to be read and appreciated by all. It’s full of wonderful word play, acrostic poems, hidden words and beautiful, full page artwork. Good for young and old alike. If you love to read good descriptive work, this is one for you!
LibraryThing member LibrarianMaven
Much has been said about the decreasing exposure that most children have to unscheduled play in nature. The effect this has on children’s vocabularies was highlighted when the most recent edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary dropped forty common words about the natural world; in their place
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were words that describe the technologies that we use every day. Poet Robert MacFarlane and artist Jackie Morris were prompted to create The Lost Words when they heard this news, to share some of the “lost” words with children and adults alike. Each of twenty words gets a full six pages: the word, broken into letters and hidden among other letters of gold and an illustration that alludes to the word, across a full spread; an acrostic poem and illustration of the word; and a full two-page spread featuring scenes of the word. And what illustrations! MacFarlane’s poems are quite good, particularly within the constraint of the acrostic form and he makes good use of alliteration. But it is Morris’s work that shines, almost literally, given the gold leaf color theme. This is an unusually large picture book with heavy weight paper, and Morris makes use of it with illustrations of full-size blackberries and a heron that threatens to fly off the page. Absolutely worthwhile to seek out for readers and nature lovers of all ages. Show Less
LibraryThing member PlanCultivateCreate
A beautifully illustrated book that houses poetry about nature in its largest and smallest forms. A book to be cherished and shared, a book to be read both out in nature and again in the depths of winter.
LibraryThing member AAPremlall
I am still astounded by the size of this beautiful book!
The first thing I did was inhale the pages, the ink, the paper. 🤓❤️📖
This is the kind of tome I hope to see when I travel in my dreams and can see the books I am reading. 🌜
The artistry and craft is heart-achingly lovely and
The first thing I did was inhale the pages, the ink, the paper. 🤓❤️📖
This is the kind of tome I hope to see when I travel in my dreams and can see the books I am reading. 🌜
The artistry and craft is heart-achingly lovely and
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wonderfully rich, nourishing my love of words and nature and painting. Inspired. 😍 Show Less
LibraryThing member Treebeard_404
Beautiful illustrations. Clever poems, some of which made me literally laugh out loud, and one of which misted my eyes.
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Pages
128