This exhibition summons this vanishing wildness back into existence in a joyful celebration of nature words and the natural world they invoke. In a 2008 National Trust survey, only a third of primary age children could identify a magpie, though nine out of ten could name a Dalek. In 2002 the results of a Cambridge University survey, published in Science, found that British schoolchildren were able to identify Pokémon far more accurately than species of common UK wildlife. On tour from Compton Verney, the exhibition presented a new series of poems and accompanying illustrations that conjure the beauty of nature, for visitors of all ages. The Lost Words is a unique collaborative project between award-winning author Robert Macfarlane, and acclaimed artist and author Jackie Morris, in response to their belief that nature is in retreat from our children’s stories and imaginations. May he succeed.The relationship between language and the living world was celebrated in this exhibition of poetry and illustration. 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. It is one of those children's books for ages up to 99 years.

Refreshingly accessible, slightly magical.' - New Statesman This is the kind of complexity that can enthral a child as much as an adult. Jackie Morris has created something that you could spend all day looking at. '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 The Lost Words is a beautiful book and an important one.' - Observer 'Sumptuous.a book combining meticulous wordcraft with exquisite illustrations deftly restores language describing the natural world to the children's lexicon. the poems or nature summoning spells are indebted to Gerard Manley Hopkins with rich alliteration, word-play and compound adjectives the illustrations make plants and creatures luminous against backgrounds of gold leaf.' - The Sunday Times

The lost words jackie morris