A year ago, a stunningly beautiful non-fiction book was published which caused a huge sensation in the media and amongst educators, with crowd-funding campaigns being launched to get thousands of copies into schools. ‘The Lost Words’ is a magical tome full of the disappearing language of the wild.

This enchanting book aims to revive words from the natural world which are slowing being lost from our language.  It’s handing the vocabulary to describe our natural heritage back to future generations.

Robert MacFarlane’s lyrical acrostic poems sound like summoning spells, conjuring up wonders from hedgerow and heath. Larks, kingfishers, brambles, adders willows – the list goes on.  Jackie Morris’s amazing hand-painted watercolour illustrations play a large part in the magic of this book.  Tiny details and huge double-page spreads help bring the poems (and their subjects) to life.

When I read it to my children, they immediately wanted to go outside and see what we could find in our own neighbourhood.  There were plenty of brambles and dandelions, magpies and starlings, and we came back with pockets full of acorns and conkers!

To celebrate its one year anniversary, Penguin have created a host of fantastic challenge cards to encourage teachers and children to explore the natural world around them.  Please click HERE to access them.

A truly beautiful book which would be perfect for nature lovers of any age, and certainly a must-have for any school.

Library Girl.

*Many thanks to Penguin Books and Jenny Baldwin for sending me this title to review*