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

"Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic" is a dialogue which has stayed with me from Harry Potter. 'The Lost Words' by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris, is a collection of words which the authors eloquently remind us of, so that they don't vanish from our language, hence vanish completely. It is a delightful heap of acrostic poems interspersed with paintings of raw wilderness. It is a book which, adults and children alike, can read through in half an hour and walk away with a fresh pair of eyes and a gladdened heart.The authors rightly call it a 'spell book'. Each poem and painting captures and conveys the spirit of a certain element of the natural world. 'Acorn' and 'Lark' would be my favorites.The book also prompts one to create one's own spell book, of disappearing words in one's own landscape. How many trees can most children name today? Or even adults for that matter? How many birds from their neighborhood? Possibly the words begin vanishing with the trees but I also believe that the converse can happen. Words and names are doorways to relationships. With nature. Maybe our cognizance of its elements will protect it, let it be, or be the beginning of a deeper relationship. Or rather a discovery of one with all life around.The Lost Words communicates this. 'An Explorer's guide to The Lost Words' by Eva John, which is freely downloadable, guides the enthusiastic teacher on how to use this book to engage children, although some of the activities/exercises I found were valuable for me as well. It also sparks off many ideas as to how the outdoors and wilderness can be interestingly integrated into the classroom.

This book is even better than the Amazon website preview shows. It's larger than I expected, with lovely, full page watercolor illustrations. The verse brilliantly evokes the essence of nature. The rhythm and choice of words is delightful. It's "poetry", but not "stuffy". Wish I had a child with which to share this. I'm definitely enjoying it. This is a feel-good book!The shipment was well packaged and arrived 2 weeks earlier than promised.

Finally an illustration book with an appropriate size to enjoy all the ilustrations... very well accompanied by the lyrics (in the sense of a song) by Robert McFarlane. Pure joy!

I've seen this book recommended for a long time- I can't believe I waited so long to check it out! I got it through our library and loved it so much I bought it before I even had to return the library book! My 5.5 and 8 yr olds have favorite poems and have naturally memorized a few snippets of several poems. Every time we share one or two with a friend's, the kids keep requesting specific poems until we've shared half the book! I LOVE this book. A note on the end page also directs you to a website with teaching resources on poetry for older kids. I'm so happy to have brought this beautiful language into our home.

Absolutely gorgeous. I love the illustrations and the compact nature of the book- perfect for next to the bed and winding down