The Lost Year, written by Katherine Marsh, and published by Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan, is the winner in the Chapter Book category.

The Lost Year, written by Katherine Marsh, is a historical novel blending the COVID pandemic and the famine of 1930s Ukraine, while amplifying the virtue of storytelling across generations. Seventh-grader Matthew is stuck indoors, tasked with helping his great-grandmother GG unbox her items from the nursing home she just left. He finds mementos that lead to bonding over hobbies, and curiosity about GG’s younger life. Thankfully, his journalist father, stuck at work in Europe, indirectly gives him ideas on how to talk to hesitant interviewees. Marsh writes alternating chapters to tell the perspectives of Matthew in 2020, Helen, a young aspiring writer in Brooklyn in 1933, and Mila, a Soviet child whose father has political ties to Stalin. Readers also learn from Nadiya, a previously unknown relative whose family lived in the countryside during the Holodomor. The mosaic of storylines helps teach readers that our familial connections, or lack thereof, can perpetuate propaganda and oppression. It also teaches about the moral issues journalists face during societal traumas. Each character has transformative moments that speak to the significance of surviving and healing from historical events.

Author: Katherine Marsh
Award: 2024 Winner Chapter Book Category

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