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4.49 AVERAGE
4.49 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Lost Year is really what I hope for all middle grade fiction to be. Namely, it treats the young reader with intelligence and knows that they will keep up with the history. It trusts young people to hold difficult stories while teaching them how to move through them. This is what you should be giving your child, your students, yourself, to read.
In it, we follow multiple perspectives, across generations and continents, but all young people. Mila in Kyiv, living a charmed life with little knowledge of pain raging outside. Helen, a young immigrant in Brooklyn, passionate about telling the truth of the Holodomor in Ukraine. And Matthew, in the modern day, learning his family history with his GG while stuck inside during the pandemic. It weaves together everything so beautifully. The writing is gorgeous and evocative while still keeping you in the perspective of a child understanding a tough world for the first time.
Unbelievably, this book pulls off something truly shocking in the second act that I did not register was going to happen at all. This further exposed just how much Marsh is playing 4D chess; she makes everything work effortlessly. I actually screamed when the thing becomes the thing. This book makes me feel so much, and I highly recommend as some of the best middle grade out there. I cannot wait to pick up her other books.
Such an interesting look at a time in history that I had never heard of! The research was so clearly there. My only complaint was the main boy character felt a little too much like an adult writing a child to further the plot. But the other characters were well written and felt so real.
I found the story of the three cousins compelling, but I think the modern pandemic story didn’t captivate me as much. At this same time, this wasn’t written for me! I’d recommend it to middle grade readers and think teachers would find that it is a good way to introduce a history many students don’t know much about.
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I love books that teach me about history I didn’t know. Surprising secrets fill the pages as a teen boy learns his GG’s shocking and horrific past. Historical details largely unknown to me fill the pages. I had a hard time putting this one down. Great read but will be difficult for sensitive readers as there are some scenes relating to the famine and loss.
I loved every minute of this book. I love historical fiction, but rarely does an author nail both recent history and the past. Starting with the Covid lockdown and Matthew's Zelda addiction (personally very relatable), I felt like I was part of the story. It was a little difficult for me to keep the story of the three girls straight at first, but oddly enough, that seemed fitting by the end. Having both Matthew and Helen carry the burden of truth also seemed fitting and I the way they both pushed themselves to share the stories in their own ways was very special. This is a book I might reread (which I don't do often) and find the finer details missed on the first time through.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Historical fiction fans, hit this up IMMEDIATELY. I read it in one sitting. It is told in two timelines: spring of 2020 in the U.S., and 1930s Ukraine (then the USSR) and New York City. Present-day seventh grader Matthew gets his Switch taken away and his mom urges him to help his 100-year-old GG unbox some of her things from the move from her nursing home to Matthew and his mom’s house. GG doesn’t want anything to do with the boxes, but Matthew learns to ask the right questions and gets swept up (as the reader does) in her complicated life history. The author does an absolutely phenomenal job with this one and I highly recommend it for grades 5-8.
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really loved this dual timeline story that explores family history.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes