“It had come to the attention of some who work in the world of words that certain words were slipping out of common usage. As a result when it came to amend the junior dictionary for a new edition these words were gone.
The letter was a request for words culled from the Oxford University Press Junior Dictionary to be returned. These words included bluebell, conker, heron, acorn and perhaps the one that cut the deepest for me, kingfisher. It wasn’t the fault of the dictionary that these words were not included, but the culture in which we live which seems to give more importance to the urban than the wild.
It was a simple response to this request, to sign the letter, that seeded our book in my imagination. How could these words be removed? What did that teach children about the importance of wild places. When you work in the world of words, language, such things have power.
The book is about lost and found, about words, about the wild. This is one piece. It’s a large book. A book to lose yourself in.”