Introduction to the Lost Words (All)

Saturday, January 18, 2020
11:00 a.m. – noon program, open house exploration until 3:00 p.m.
 

Free for Doors Open Jamestown
No reservations required.

“Once upon a time, words began to vanish from the language of children…” Words like acorn, heron, otter. Learn more about these words, the book that brought it all to light, and ways you can bring the words back to the world.

Robert MacFarlane wrote a book, the Lost Words, about 20 words that went missing from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. This was after he read an article that children were better able to identify Pokémon characters than wildlife. Many of the words missing from their vocabulary were nature-based, and it brought to light a more disturbing trend: children didn’t know what an acorn was, couldn’t identify a weasel, didn’t recognize a heron. Artist Jackie Morris worked with him to illustrate beautiful spells that capture the essence of the lost word, plant, and animal. His hope is that as the spells are read aloud, the items themselves are conjured back into existence through knowledge, art, and connection.