the lost words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

I'm kicking off this year with 'the lost words' by writer Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris. It was one of my Christmas presents from my husband and I have to say (alongside my microplane grater!) it's one of my favourites.

This is a sublimely beautiful and thoughtful book and I love the story behind the creation of it. You can read about it on Jackie Morris's blog here. In a nutshell the discovery that the Oxford Junior Dictionary was removing words such as otter, kingfisher and willow sparked an outcry and a petition was started by writers and naturalists. The reason behind the removal of these words was that they were slipping out of common usage, hence the title 'the lost words'.

I have to admit that when I first looked at this book in a bookshop I thumbed through it and didn't understand the whole concept behind it. But when I settled down on the sofa and properly looked at it, I completely fell in love. And later on when I read it with my children (five and eight) we had a lovely time together reading and sharing it. My eight year old really enjoyed reading the poems out to us both.

It's a big book and sumptuously made, with gold lettering. Because it's so large, it really allows space for the artwork to shine. It picks out a word on a double page, these are the 'spell' pages (it's called 'A spell book' in the sub-title). The following page has a poem about the word and the next page features a full magnificent double page illustration. So each word has six pages in total dedicated to it. The lost words are: acorn, adder, bluebell, bramble, conker, dandelion, fern, heather, heron, ivy, kingfisher, lark, magpie, newt, otter, raven, starling, weasel, willow and wren.

The poems are little works of art in their own right, each one unique and evocative of the word they are describing. The magpie one which ends 'Every Magpie for Every Magpie against Every Other Walking Flying Swimming Creeping Creature on the Earth!' makes me chuckle every time. And the 'Rooftop riprap street-smart hip-hop of starling song' is just wonderful to read aloud.

There is a great interview from Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris on the Penguin blog which delves into a little more detail about making the book and how the cover was designed. There is also a current exhibition displaying the artwork and poems at the Foundling Museum in London.

There is a campaign being organised to get this book into every school in Scotland and I heartily hope that it gathers momentum and becomes the whole of the UK because this is an important book which deserves to be shared. Go and buy it! Preferably from a real life bookshop.

National Poetry Day!

It's National Poetry Day! I thought I'd break my extended silence and talk about a few of my favourite children's poems. We have a small selection of children's poetry books at home and one the ones I like the best is the 100 Best poems for Children compiled by Roger Mcgough. It's jammed full of fabulous poems and I love dipping in and out of it.

Another firm favourite is Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg, fantastic for school age children and full of fun. I must share it with my six year old!

A new poetry book out very recently and getting lots of plaudits comes from two venerated and wonderful authors Chris Riddell and Michael Rosen. A Great Big Cuddle is a lovely book which works brilliantly with young and old. 

Here is a poem I particularly like for young babies, I think it's the chanting quality, maybe it soothes!

Star light, star bright,

First Star I see tonight,

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have the wish, I wish tonight.

(Traditional Nursery Rhyme)

And this is from Lewis Carroll, I also love Jabberwocky but I really like the conversational nature of this and the way the roles are reversed. And it's from one of my favourite ever books, Alice in Wonderland.

You are old, Father William by Lewis Carroll (from Alice in Wonderland)

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "As I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment—one shilling the box—
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," said the youth, "And your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"

So there we have it, a celebration of children's poetry. It's not that extensive, given that it's drawn from my narrow collection. Happy Poetry Day!