diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 78d0a37..15fa0cc 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 S3method(print,summary_spellcheck)
 export(get_wordlist)
+export(spell_check_bookdown)
 export(spell_check_files)
 export(spell_check_package)
 export(spell_check_setup)
diff --git a/R/spell-check-bookdown.R b/R/spell-check-bookdown.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f47a45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/spell-check-bookdown.R
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+#' Bookdown Spell Checking
+#'
+#' Automatically spell-check bookdown source files.
+#'
+#' Parses and checks bookdown source files, and if these files are present
+#' * README.md (when there's no README.Rmd)
+#' * NEWS.md
+#' *  text fields in the `DESCRIPTION` file if present.
+#'
+#' The preferred spelling language (typically `en-GB` or `en-US`) should be
+#' * specified in the `Language` field from your package `DESCRIPTION`,
+#' * or entered as the `lang` argument.
+#' To whitelist custom words
+#' use the bookdown [WORDLIST][get_wordlist] file which will be added to the dictionary
+#' when spell checking. See [update_wordlist] to automatically populate and update this
+#' file.
+#'
+#' Hunspell includes dictionaries for `en_US` and `en_GB` by default. Other languages
+#' require installation of a custom dictionary, see [hunspell][hunspell::hunspell] for details.
+#'
+#' @export
+#' @rdname spell_check_bookdown
+#' @name spell_check_bookdown
+#' @aliases spelling
+#' @family spelling
+#' @param path path to package root directory containing the `DESCRIPTION` file
+#' @param use_wordlist ignore words in the package [WORDLIST][get_wordlist] file
+#' @param lang set `Language` field in `DESCRIPTION` e.g. `"en-US"` or `"en-GB"`.
+#' For supporting other languages, see the [hunspell vignette](https://docs.ropensci.org/hunspell/articles/intro.html#hunspell-dictionaries).
+spell_check_bookdown <- function(path = ".", lang = NULL, use_wordlist = TRUE){
+
+  # Get language
+  if (is.null(lang)) {
+    if (file.exists(file.path(path, "DESCRIPTION"))){
+      pkg <- as_package(path)
+
+      # Get language from DESCRIPTION
+      lang <- normalize_lang(pkg$language)
+    } else {
+      lang <- suppressMessages(normalize_lang(NULL))
+    }
+  } else {
+    lang <- normalize_lang(lang)
+  }
+
+  # Add custom words to the ignore list
+
+  add_words <- if(isTRUE(use_wordlist))
+    get_wordfile(path)
+
+  if (file.exists(file.path(path, "DESCRIPTION"))){
+    pkg <- as_package(path)
+    author <- if(length(pkg[['authors@r']])){
+      parse_r_field(pkg[['authors@r']])
+    } else {
+      if ("author" %in% names(pkg)) {
+        strsplit(pkg[['author']], " ", fixed = TRUE)[[1]]
+      } else{
+        author <- NULL
+      }
+    }
+
+    meta <- c(pkg$package, author)
+  } else {
+    meta <- NULL
+  }
+  ignore <- unique(c(meta, hunspell::en_stats, add_words))
+
+  # Create the hunspell dictionary object
+  dict <- hunspell::dictionary(lang, add_words = sort(ignore))
+
+  # Where to check for rmd/md files
+  bookdown_files <- list.files(file.path(path), pattern = "\\.rmd$",
+                           ignore.case = TRUE, full.names = TRUE, recursive = TRUE)
+  root_files <- list.files(file.path(path), pattern = "(readme|news|changes).r?md",
+                           ignore.case = TRUE, full.names = TRUE)
+
+  # Markdown files
+  md_files <- sort(normalizePath(c(root_files, bookdown_files)))
+  md_lines <- lapply(md_files, spell_check_file_md, dict = dict)
+
+  all_sources <- md_files
+  all_lines <- md_lines
+
+  # Check 'DESCRIPTION' fields
+  if (file.exists(file.path(path, "DESCRIPTION"))){
+    pkg_fields <- c("title", "description")
+    pkg <- as_package(path)
+    pkg_lines <- lapply(pkg_fields, function(x){
+      if (x %in% names(pkg)) {
+        spell_check_file_text(textConnection(pkg[[x]]), dict = dict)
+      } else {
+        spell_check_file_text(textConnection(""), dict = dict)
+      }
+    })
+
+    all_sources <- c(all_sources, pkg_fields)
+    all_lines <- c(all_lines, pkg_lines)
+  }
+
+  summarize_words(all_sources, all_lines)
+}
+
diff --git a/R/spell-check.R b/R/spell-check.R
index 38d9040..7812aec 100644
--- a/R/spell-check.R
+++ b/R/spell-check.R
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ as_package <- function(pkg){
   } else {
     normalizePath(file.path(path, "DESCRIPTION"), mustWork = TRUE)
   }
+
   pkg <- read.dcf(description)[1,]
   Encoding(pkg) = "UTF-8"
   pkg <- as.list(pkg)
diff --git a/R/wordlist.R b/R/wordlist.R
index 8288437..f854615 100644
--- a/R/wordlist.R
+++ b/R/wordlist.R
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@
 #' @family spelling
 #' @export
 #' @param confirm show changes and ask confirmation before adding new words to the list
+#' @param pkg path to package (or bookdown folder)
 #' @inheritParams spell_check_package
 update_wordlist <- function(pkg = ".", vignettes = TRUE, confirm = TRUE){
-  pkg <- as_package(pkg)
-  wordfile <- get_wordfile(pkg$path)
-  old_words <- sort(get_wordlist(pkg$path))
-  new_words <- sort(spell_check_package(pkg$path, vignettes = vignettes, use_wordlist = FALSE)$word)
+  wordfile <- get_wordfile(pkg)
+  old_words <- sort(get_wordlist(pkg))
+  new_words <- sort(spell_check_package(pkg, vignettes = vignettes, use_wordlist = FALSE)$word)
   if(isTRUE(all.equal(old_words, new_words))){
     cat(sprintf("No changes required to %s\n", wordfile))
   } else {
@@ -51,8 +51,7 @@ update_wordlist <- function(pkg = ".", vignettes = TRUE, confirm = TRUE){
 #' @rdname wordlist
 #' @export
 get_wordlist <- function(pkg = "."){
-  pkg <- as_package(pkg)
-  wordfile <- get_wordfile(pkg$path)
+  wordfile <- get_wordfile(pkg)
   out <- if(file.exists(wordfile))
     unlist(strsplit(readLines(wordfile, warn = FALSE, encoding = "UTF-8"), " ", fixed = TRUE))
   as.character(out)
diff --git a/_pkgdown.yml b/_pkgdown.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1da054c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_pkgdown.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+reference:
+- title: Utilities
+  desc: ~
+  contents:
+  - '`spell_check_files`'
+  - '`wordlist`'
+- title: Convenience functions
+  desc: ~
+  contents:
+  - '`spell_check_package`'
+  - '`spell_check_bookdown`'
diff --git a/man/spell_check_bookdown.Rd b/man/spell_check_bookdown.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b576f7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/spell_check_bookdown.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/spell-check-bookdown.R
+\name{spell_check_bookdown}
+\alias{spell_check_bookdown}
+\alias{spelling}
+\title{Bookdown Spell Checking}
+\usage{
+spell_check_bookdown(path = ".", lang = NULL, use_wordlist = TRUE)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{path}{path to package root directory containing the \code{DESCRIPTION} file}
+
+\item{lang}{set \code{Language} field in \code{DESCRIPTION} e.g. \code{"en-US"} or \code{"en-GB"}.
+For supporting other languages, see the \href{https://docs.ropensci.org/hunspell/articles/intro.html#hunspell-dictionaries}{hunspell vignette}.}
+
+\item{use_wordlist}{ignore words in the package \link[=get_wordlist]{WORDLIST} file}
+}
+\description{
+Automatically spell-check bookdown source files.
+}
+\details{
+Parses and checks bookdown source files, and if these files are present
+\itemize{
+\item README.md (when there's no README.Rmd)
+\item NEWS.md
+\item text fields in the \code{DESCRIPTION} file if present.
+}
+
+The preferred spelling language (typically \code{en-GB} or \code{en-US}) should be
+\itemize{
+\item specified in the \code{Language} field from your package \code{DESCRIPTION},
+\item or entered as the \code{lang} argument.
+To whitelist custom words
+use the bookdown \link[=get_wordlist]{WORDLIST} file which will be added to the dictionary
+when spell checking. See \link{update_wordlist} to automatically populate and update this
+file.
+}
+
+Hunspell includes dictionaries for \code{en_US} and \code{en_GB} by default. Other languages
+require installation of a custom dictionary, see \link[hunspell:hunspell]{hunspell} for details.
+}
+\seealso{
+Other spelling: \code{\link{spell_check_files}},
+  \code{\link{spell_check_package}}, \code{\link{wordlist}}
+}
+\concept{spelling}
diff --git a/man/spell_check_files.Rd b/man/spell_check_files.Rd
index 3437737..e464b45 100644
--- a/man/spell_check_files.Rd
+++ b/man/spell_check_files.Rd
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ files <- list.files(system.file("examples", package = "knitr"),
 spell_check_files(files)
 }
 \seealso{
-Other spelling: \code{\link{spell_check_package}},
-  \code{\link{wordlist}}
+Other spelling: \code{\link{spell_check_bookdown}},
+  \code{\link{spell_check_package}}, \code{\link{wordlist}}
 }
 \concept{spelling}
diff --git a/man/spell_check_package.Rd b/man/spell_check_package.Rd
index 85d3869..d2a5f6b 100644
--- a/man/spell_check_package.Rd
+++ b/man/spell_check_package.Rd
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ Hunspell includes dictionaries for \code{en_US} and \code{en_GB} by default. Oth
 require installation of a custom dictionary, see \link[hunspell:hunspell]{hunspell} for details.
 }
 \seealso{
-Other spelling: \code{\link{spell_check_files}},
-  \code{\link{wordlist}}
+Other spelling: \code{\link{spell_check_bookdown}},
+  \code{\link{spell_check_files}}, \code{\link{wordlist}}
 }
 \concept{spelling}
diff --git a/man/wordlist.Rd b/man/wordlist.Rd
index 8aa9670..4f9872a 100644
--- a/man/wordlist.Rd
+++ b/man/wordlist.Rd
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ update_wordlist(pkg = ".", vignettes = TRUE, confirm = TRUE)
 get_wordlist(pkg = ".")
 }
 \arguments{
-\item{pkg}{path to package root directory containing the \code{DESCRIPTION} file}
+\item{pkg}{path to package (or bookdown folder)}
 
 \item{vignettes}{check all \code{rmd} and \code{rnw} files in the pkg root directory (e.g.
 \code{readme.md}) and package \code{vignettes} folder.}
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ removes words from the wordlist that no longer appear as spelling errors, either
 they have been removed from the documentation or added to the \code{lang} dictionary.
 }
 \seealso{
-Other spelling: \code{\link{spell_check_files}},
+Other spelling: \code{\link{spell_check_bookdown}},
+  \code{\link{spell_check_files}},
   \code{\link{spell_check_package}}
 }
 \concept{spelling}