The Lost Spells

by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris

Oh my goodness, what a beauty of a book!  Just exquisite.  It is filled with watercolor paintings of animals, birds, nature.  Each painting is accompanied by a delightful, insightful poem.  Some are a single page, others several pages long. 

There are poems for fox, moth, daisy, jackdaw, jay, gorse, swifts, goldfinch, oak, snow hare, barn owl, heartwood, curlew, egret, grey seal, gannet, thrift, woodpecker, beech, swallow, and silver birch.  I almost think I learned more about the character and attributes of these animals and plants from the poems than from reading descriptions in a science book or online.  I loved, loved, loved jackdaw, thrift, and woodpecker.  All were great, though.

Here's a video showing the pages, but the beauty of the books is created by both images and words (another version of images in the hands of Robert MacFarlane). 



Best to see and read it in person, holding it in your own hands!

nm