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Parents' Guide to

The Lost Year

By Andrea Beach, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Absorbing, haunting story of surviving historic tragedy.

Illustration of a girl in silhouette holding a candle in front of a twilit cityscape.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This is an absorbing, haunting, and moving story about tragic events that many readers may not have known about. But The Lost Year handles the sadness, grief, and tragedy gracefully. Author Katherine Marsh doesn't shy away from the strong feelings, but she doesn't dwell on them for too long, either.

The three tween narrators and the large cast of characters, from 1930s Kyiv and Brooklyn to 2020s New Jersey, are all believable and easy to root for. It also provides a lot of food for thought, not just about the tragedy itself but about other important issues like journalism, family, stories, survival, and more.

Book Details

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