The Lost Words: Rediscover our natural world with this spellbinding book - Hardcover

Macfarlane, Robert; Morris, Jackie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241253586 ISBN 13: 9780241253588

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 2017

Synopsis

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE CILIP KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL 2019

WINNER OF THE BEAUTIFUL BOOK AWARD 2017

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2018

'The most beautiful and thought-provoking book I've read this year' Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Observer

'Gorgeous to look at and to read. Give it to a child to bring back the magic of language - and its scope' Jeanette Winterson, Guardian

'Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris have made a thing of astonishing beauty' Alex Preston, Observer

'My top book of the year' Susan Hill, Spectator

From the outstanding creative partnership of Robert Macfarlane (Underland, The Old Ways) and Jackie Morris (Tell Me a Dragon, The Snow Leopard)

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.

About this title

Review:

Sumptuously illustrated... the poems or nature summoning spells are indebted to Gerard Manley Hopkins with rich alliteration, word-play and compound adjectives [and] the illustrations make plants and creatures luminous against backgrounds of gold leaf (The Sunday Times)

One of the most striking and poignant picture books of the season...this giant tome contains not only beautiful illustrations but a haunting series of poems that read like a summoning back of the wild...a book in which every page seems like an act of love (Herald)

A breathtaking book... Jackie Morris has created something that you could spend all day looking at... This is the kind of complexity that can enthral a child as much as an adult... Refreshingly accessible, slightly magical (New Statesman)

One of the publishing sensations of recent times is The Lost Words (Daily Mail)

My top book of the year... It is one of those children's books for ages up to 99 years. The lost words are those my generation and earlier ones used every day and which are fast disappearing, and Macfarlane's aim is to resurrect the everyday glories of our language. May he succeed (Susan Hill)

Gilded and glorious, Jackie Morris's paintings illustrate Robert Macfarlane's acrostic poems in The Lost Words, one of the years loveliest books for all ages over 10 (The Sunday Times)

Rapturously received celebration of nature (The New Statesman)

Macfarlane is a changemaker... he has made nature-writing populis6t and big-selling. Morris's paintings are beautiful - at once familiar and other. A contender for book of the year (The Big Issue)

Publisher's description. An illustrated spell-book in watercolour and gold leaf, from the rich creative minds of award-winning author Robert Macfarlane and acclaimed artist Jackie Morris. As nature vanishes from children's language and their imagination, The Lost Words stands against the loss of magic, celebrating the joy of wild childhood and wild places. (Penguin)

About the Author:

Robert Macfarlane (Author)
Robert Macfarlane is the author of Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, The Old Ways, Landmarks, and The Lost Words, co-created with Jackie Morris. Mountains of the Mind won the Guardian First Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award and The Wild Places won the Boardman-Tasker Award. Both books have been adapted for television by the BBC. The Lost Words won the Books Are My Bag Beautiful Book Award and the Hay Festival Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and writes on environmentalism, literature and travel for publications including the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The New York Times.

Jackie Morris (Author)
Jackie Morris grew up in the Vale of Evesham, dreaming of becoming an artist and living by the sea. She studied at Hereford College of Arts and at Bath Academy, and went on to illustrate for the New Statesman, Independent and Guardian among many other publications. As a children's author and artist, she has created over forty books, including beloved classics such as Song of the Golden Hare, Tell Me A Dragon, East of the Sun, West of the Moon and The Wild Swans. She collaborated with Ted Hughes, and her books have sold more than a million copies worldwide. Jackie now lives in a cottage on the cliffs of Pembrokeshire, which she shares with a small pride of cats and various other gentle creatures.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0241253586
• ISBN 13: 9780241253588
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128