A BOOKSHOP chain with stores in Nailsworth and Tetbury has launched a campaign to get a copy of an award winning book in every Gloucestershire primary school.

The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris has won prizes such as The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, Hay Festival Book of the Year and BAMB Beautiful Book Award 2017.

A campaign in Scotland has already raised funds to get a copy of the book into every primary school in the country and now Yellow-Lighted Bookshops want to do the same for Gloucestershire.

The book is about words that children commonly used to use, such as conker, bramble, and dandelion but are now disappearing from their language.

It features acrostic poems, by Macfarlane, conjures the natural world back to life, while Morris’s astounding paintings manage to illustrate a word’s absence - and then it’s recovery.

Owner of Yellow-Lighted Bookshops, Hereward Corbett, believes the book could be incredibly important for the children’s education.

“It’s clearly a very important book”, said Hereward.

“Children are increasingly losing touch with the natural world, and this presents society with a huge challenge.

“The Lost Words’ beautifully and creatively meets that challenge head on.”

“When we heard about the campaign in Scotland it was a light bulb moment.

“We already raise money to help local schools to buy the books they need, and this felt like the obvious response.

“It fits everything that we believe in - the importance of reading, education and the natural world.”

The response to the bookshop’s proposal has already been enormous with many people believing this book could shape a generation.

There are about 250 primary schools in Gloucestershire and the bookshop’s target is to raise £5,000 over the next month, with any extra money going to fund extra books for schools.

To donate visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/lost-words-for-gloucestershire.

All pictures by Simon Pizzey