CHILDREN at Okehampton Primary School have been personally presented with a lavishly illustrated book which celebrates words about nature removed from a popular children’s dictionary.

The Lost Words was created by author Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris in response to such much-loved words as bluebell and conker being removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary to make way for others relating to the electronic age.

The book has been bought for the school by the Dartmoor Preservation Association and Val Barns from the DPA visited the school recently to present the book to the children.

Following an appeal for funding to supply copies to schools in Devon, the DPA contributed to the crowdfunding campaign to provide copies to schools on Dartmoor.

Within the book, each lost word is illustrated beautifully and brought to life with a ‘summoning spell’ or poem to be read aloud. A further illustration leaves an empty space where the lost flower or animal ought to be.

The visit to school was timely as Year 6 teacher Alison Armstrong recently met the illustrator of The Lost Words at an educational event at Buckfast Abbey, coming back inspired about using the book in school.