Recording "an epoch of loss" inspires a beacon of hope

In this illustrated children's book, described by the author as a work of magic, Robert Macfarlane questions the removal of certain nature words from the Oxford children's dictionary.

It's a telling moment in history. Childhood is "becoming virtualized...interiorized, and going indoors...nature is slipping from childhood as it is slipping from all our lives and our landscapes." Yet it is important for children to name living things, since "to name something is to know it a little bit better, and maybe to care of it." A partial list of the lost: kingfisher, otter, acorn, wren, bluebell, skylark, fern, willow, raven. Many of these are also endangered. "We are living in an age of absence."As the creatures go, the names go."

Here's the hope and magic. "Culture can change...societies." Macfarlane's book has done that, inspiring schools all over the world to direct children's attention to the natural world.