The Lost Language

Claudia Mills

Okt. 2021 · Tantor Media Inc · Voorgelees deur Erin deWard

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The quest to save the words of a dying language-and to find the words to save what may be a dying friendship-lies at the heart of this exquisite verse novel. Sixth grader Betsy is the one who informs her best friend, Lizard, that thousands of the world's languages are currently threatened by extinction; Betsy's mother is a linguistics professor working frantically to study dying languages before they are lost forever. But it is Lizard who, gripped by the magnitude of this loss, challenges Betsy, "What if, instead of WRITING about dying languages, like your mom, you and I SAVED one instead?" As the girls embark on their quest to learn as much as possible of the near-extinct language of Guernesiais (spoken on the Isle of Guernsey, off the coast of France), their friendship faces unexpected strains. With Lizard increasingly obsessed with the language project, Betsy begins to seek greater independence from her controlling and charismatic friend, as well as from her controlling and charismatic mother. Then tragedy threatens Betsy's life beyond what any words can express, and Lizard does something unthinkable. Maybe lost friendships, like lost languages, can never be completely saved.

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Claudia Mills has written many children's books. She recently received the Kerlan Award for her contribution to children's literature. She was a professor of philosophy for more than two decades at the University of Colorado and is a faculty member in the graduate programs in children's literature at Hollins University.

Erin deWard is an Audie Award-winning audiobook narrator and a classically trained stage actor. She is a longtime company member of The Strange Bedfellows, a Rockland County, New York-based Shakespeare company.