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

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Eventually, “I had a desk and would be given tasks… I would serve the words as they served the words.” She later came to realise that words would not be included for various reasons, but the one that most troubled her was that the word did not appear in print, even if it was commonly used.

A proportion of proceeds from each copy of The Lost Words is being given to one such organisation, Action for Conservation. The Scottish Book Trust blog postshows how two primary school have used The Lost Words to help their reading journey while working towards a John Muir Award.While I did enjoy this one, it was a slow read and the characters do not enjoy much happiness. I think it was authentic to history, but I need more joy in life, especially during a pandemic! Discover The Lost Spells, the magical companion book from the creators of a literary phenomenon . ***

The pith of the novel is indeed thought-provoking and is all about celebrating discarded words. It defines the major part of the power of language in shaping the world. 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. A wild landscape of imagination and play is rapidly fading from our children's minds. A bondmaid is a young woman bound to serve until her death. As Williams explains in her author’s note, uses of the word had been supplied by members of the public – an important part of how the dictionary was compiled – but the piece of paper showing the final definition is still missing from the archives today.a b Keen, Suzie (15 September 2023). "From the scriptorium to the stage: The Dictionary of Lost Words comes to life". InReview . Retrieved 23 September 2023. After Macfarlane read the ‘Pokémon paper’ (a study published in Science in 2002 by Professor Andrew Balmford from Cambridge’s Department of Zoology), he started to gather other evidence of a loss of ‘nature-literacy’. A National Trust survey, for instance, showed that half of children couldn’t tell the difference between a wasp and a bee, yet almost all could name a Dalek; and a three-year RSPB research project found only one in five children in Britain are ‘positively connected to nature’. a b Case, Jo (8 May 2020). "A few words in your ear about gender, dictionaries and kindness". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 23 March 2021. This book is supposed to teach children exactly those things in an enchanting way, like a spell book.