The stolen year How COVID changed children's lives, and where we go now

Kamenetz, an education correspondent for NPR, provides a complex study of the human challenges faced by all those involved in schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting with a history of schools as central and vital societal institutions, she introduces readers to struggling individuals and families faced with school closures and the reliving of past traumas. Kamenetz notes that other nations closed their schools for months, but not the year common in the US. These closures stimulated other societal challenges relating to childhood hunger and food insecurity, childcare, special education, racism, the legal system, family dynamics, mental health, and the politics around education. In the chapter on schooling during the pandemic, the author discusses declining student engagement due to inequitable access to technology, the risks of keeping children home, teacher resistance to reopening, the growth in alternative models like homeschooling, city-run learning hubs, and parental engagement. Citing Richard G. Tedeschi's "five paths to fostering post-traumatic growth . . . 'education, emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, and service,' " Kamenetz closes with optimism (p. 334). She notes recent governmental funding that cut child poverty in half, provided compensatory post-pandemic services, and supported childcare as a form of infrastructure. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. --David L Stoloff, Eastern Connecticut State University

Journalist Kamenetz (Generation Debt) delivers a compassionate study of how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted schoolchildren and their families. Drawing on interviews with children and parents across the U.S. and her own experiences as the mother of two young daughters, Kamenetz documents "high levels of chronic absence and disengagement from school" following the shift to remote learning in 2020, and reports that former secretary of education Betsy DeVos "diverted a disproportionate share of federal relief funds to private schools" during the pandemic, while resisting calls for the Department of Education to take the lead in directing schools how to safely reopen. Noting that U.S. public schools were closed for more than twice as long as those in the U.K. and China, Kamenetz cites evidence that the absence of America's "most broadly accessible welfare institutions" caused food insecurity to double, even as many children gained weight due to a lack of exercise. She also claims that student-organized protests over the murder of George Floyd by police provided "catharsis, after a season of confinement and monotony," and sketches how parents and teachers can foster children's "posttraumatic growth." Striking an expert balance between the big picture and intimate profiles of students, teachers, parents, and school officials, this is an astute and vital first draft of history. (Aug.)

Kamenetz leaves no stone unturned in her extensive exploration of the vast problems children faced during the first year of the COVID pandemic. The book features interviews with parents and children dealing with being an afterthought in many policies created to counter the virus. Kamenetz takes historical deep dives and makes numerous data points, covering everything from the failing programs of school lunches and childcare to the poorly handled crisis in the U.S. related to mental health care and treatments for children of all ages. Although this focuses on her expertise in education, Kamenetz deftly navigates the cracks in many pre-pandemic systems, cracks that exploded at the onset in March 2020. Ultimately, she argues, these failures will leave millions of children with avoidable adverse effects for years to come. This is not an optimistic book but certainly a comprehensive one. Kamenetz's feat will surely be followed up with additional studies for years to come. For now, it's a great starting point for the discussion. VERDICT Recommended for parenting and education-focused collections.--Halie Kerns

An account of the massive educational disruption caused by the pandemic. Though Covid-19 hit everyone hard, Kamenetz, the lead digital education correspondent for NPR, focuses on its wide-reaching effects on children in this well-researched, enlightening book. The author goes into welcome depth on the consequences of a year without in-person schooling, chronicling her interviews with children who have health issues and compromised immune systems, those with special needs who function better with a regular routine, and those from low-income families who rely on the school lunch program. The parents are also an integral part of the book, and Kamenetz is sympathetic to their plights with lost jobs due to downsizing or the necessity of child care. Throughout, the author shares the small details of quotidian life, creating a crystal-clear picture of the extent to which the pandemic has affected children. During 2020 and 2021, countless children suffered greater hunger, had an indifference to schoolwork, and became fearful, depressed, anxious, and withdrawn. Their trauma equaled--or often exceeded--that of adults, but few received adequate assistance. Unfortunately, the author also shows how the trauma is not over for millions and that what they experienced during the height of the pandemic will haunt them for years. She is careful to note, however, that "not one of them is doomed." After noting the ways that government, health, and education officials let children down, Kamenetz offers useful ideas on what areas must change, including an overhaul of the system that determines guidelines for special needs, placing more value on the work of caregivers, and revamping the entire welfare system. No one knows the long-term effects the pandemic will have on children, but Kamenetz gives readers areas to watch as time progresses and the pandemic waxes and wanes in the years to come. An insightful, educative treatise from a seasoned professional. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.