The lost language
(Book)

"Margaret Ferguson Books."

Best friends and sixth-graders Bumble and Lizard go on a quest to save the severely endangered language, Guernésiais, partly to impress Bumble's linguist mother.

"Eleven-year-old Betsy is the one who informs her best friend, Lizard, that thousands of the world's languages are currently threatened with 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 rather than writing about dying languages, like your mom, you and I saved one instead?" As the girls embark on their crusade to learn as much as possible of the near-extinct language of Guernésiais (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. But then tragedy threatens Betsy's life beyond what any words can express, and Lizard does something unthinkable. 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 exquisit novel in verse." --,From book jacket.

Ages 9 to 12.,Holiday House.

Grades 4-6.,Holiday House.

Golden Dome Award, 2022-2023