A SPECIAL BOOK: THE LOST WORDS

ROSALIE

Bibliophile

Jackie Morris conjures wildlife and nature from the pages of The Lost Words, and her co-author Robert Macfarlane ignites the words with his acrostic poems. Both authors are advocates for children and nature. I was blessed to find out about this beautiful book at an exhibition of the original paintings at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh in 2018.

​The full size works were breathtaking. The book was imagined by the authors with the object of bringing to life words lost to children in the UK because certain words had been dropped by the Oxford Junior Dictionary.  It is interesting that even though the title is all about words the majority of the book is taken up with pictures. It's a compelling format: each section focuses on a "lost word". Each is preceded by a double page illustration that feels like yearning (for the loss), then a corresponding poem is written on one page with a direct illustration on the opposing page, framed in gold leaf. Finally, each "lost word" is illustrated by a picture showing its place in nature. The three part illustration is meant to be a conjuring of nature and a reclaiming of a word that has been lost. Robert Macfarlane’s poems are musical and Jackie Morris’ illustrations are fluid and imaginative.

Grassroots campaigns have placed the book in many schools and institutions in the UK and the exhibition is still travelling to various cities there. It is a book connecting children to their own natural world. It is not the Australian world of kangaroos, wombats and possums, but we recognise many of the birds and plants we share with the UK (such as ravens, magpies, and bluebells, to name a few). I find the words and illustrations inspirational and if I am feeling blocked when working on a composition or idea I find  renewed energy if I leaf through this book. Best of all, a new book similar in spirit and tone is about to be released. It's called The Lost Spells. I will definitely be seeking it out!