‘Young People of the Pandemic’ is an intimate glimpse into the psyche of American youth living through the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. A diverse group of young writers from across the country illustrates what it is to be a member of Gen Z in a divided country attempting to conquer the greatest crises of our time. An anthology for readers aged 10 to 110, the book presents a selection of voices from the generation that will inherit a wounded nation. With resilience, bravery, wisdom honesty, and humour, these young writers tell their stories. The writing is not only used as a form of emotional expression, but also as an exploration into the journeys of young people as they navigate an uncertain and turbulent time. The collection of 120 young writers is heart-breaking yet heart-warming, presented in an extremely readable format. Through the stories, poems, and anecdotes there is hope on every page, with each written piece serving as an example of creative courage.
Genre: Anthology
Age appropriate: 10+
Number of Pages: 178 pages
Date of Publication: 21/10/2020
Author/Illustrator/Publisher:
The authors of this book were around 100 Gen Z young people aged between 10-21-year-old Americans.
This book was edited by Nancy S. Nelson with Sophia Larson and compiled by Sofia Haskel. The Publisher of this Anthology is Nancy S. Nelson.
Rating: 5/5
Review:
This book is a collection of anecdotes and stories that shows us first-hand how COVID 19 affected older children and young people in their lives and how they managed to cope with the isolation and with online learning. Some of the stories are heart breaking and full of emotion while others show us how they managed to see the positive side of this situation and spend more time getting to better know their own families.
The book contains three chapters which are very well balanced. The first chapter focuses on children aged between ten and thirteen years old, the second chapter has teenagers from age fourteen to seventeen and the third chapter has younger adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one.
The idea of having a compilation of stories told by our younger generation was very inspired and is very well presented using different styles of writing and different perspectives ranging from grief to boredom or some simply enjoying spending time with their pets.
One of the topics that is often talked about is friendship and how hard it was to stay away from friends and close family. Learning to find new methods of communication such as face time calls and zoom meetings to stay in touch and to check on friends played an important part in everyone’s life.
Each of the writers made a great contribution to this book. Each of them showed us their own experience, thoughts, concerns and hopes. There is so much honesty in each persons writing and it is very refreshing to see this kind of truthfulness in an anthology of personal accounts.
I really enjoyed reading this book, all the anecdotes have something special and full of emotion. This book focuses on American young people but what they went through is what most of young people around the world experienced as well. This is a book that should be read by anyone who would like to know the impact that this pandemic has had upon the younger generations.
Availability: The book can be found on Amazon (Link here) as paperback or eBook.
Thank you so much Nancy Nelson and her team for providing me with a virtual copy of the book.
Shelf Life 
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