Cole and Kingsley are vital writers. They are examples of the crucial voices needed in disseminating information that needs to be heard and acted upon by the masses. The limitations placed upon them and their work are terrifying; it can only be hoped that there will be positive changes on the horizon for them.

This is beautifully written with nuance and heavily evidence-supported points raised. Throughout, they acknowledge the favourable actions that were carried out whilst also exploring the wealth of concerning ones. It's disappointing to read and realise just how many instances we all let pass by.

It isn't an enjoyable read but it is necessary.

As someone that works in education with young people I can see the devastation that has been left after the Covid pandemic. Whilst this is a hard and uncomfortable read, it’s a must read for anyone that is a professional that works with young people. Whilst I won’t be recommending it to my students, I will be telling my Co-workers about it.

My interest in this book is twofold: As a parent of a young person who was due to sit their GCSEs during the pandemic I saw how challenging being isolated from friends and the education system was for my child and worried about the implications of this for the emotional well-being of them & their peers. As a mental health professional working with children and young people I was deeply concerned about the short- and long-term impact of the pandemic on society as a whole but primarily the impact of the mental health of those at both ends of the age spectrum, for whom social contact is so important.
An extremely well written and informative book, the authors give consideration to many aspects caused by, and worsened by, the pandemic for children and their families. I do feel that the readership for this book may mean the authors are preaching to the already converted, as those of us with enough interest in the subject to want to read about it will likely already share either the same outlook as the authors or many of the experiences identified in the book, However, I believe this would make very interesting reading for those in professions that have contact with children (health, social care, education etc.), but it should be essential reading for those in local & national government making decisions that can have such wide-reaching and long-term impact on not only children, young people & their families, but also society in the years to come.
The medium- & longer-term impact of the pandemic is slowly emerging, but unfortunately it is being further exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis. Therefore, well informed, compassionate, empathic & passionate professionals & family members are crucial to children & young people’s resilience, and this book can form the foundation for this.

This needs to go into all the hands of people I fought with because kids weren't being considered during the pandemic. The amount of people I debated with that were selfish and only considering themselves and basically just said "kids can deal with it" was astronomical.

I wanted to read this book because I've read horror stories about how children were treated during the pandemic. Especially kids on the spectrum and kids in school because a lot of my cousins have school age kids who had to deal with a lot. My child was too young for school BUT she was still affected as she wasn't allowed to go to kid friendly places to play or even the park! You start seeing the damage happening and it's terrifying. We rely on those places for a lot of her physical needs because we don't have a big backyard so no swing set or a ton of outside things to do.

This was mainly written with the UK in mind BUT they also talked about the US sometimes and everyone knows we dealt with pretty much the same thing as they did. There was stuff I didn't even know about which was shocking and eye opening and then there was stuff unfortunately not talked about in this book that I feel was important to talk about. But that's ok. Sometimes there is just too much to say and books like this can already be hard to read in short spans. Hopefully it just leads people to research more!

Read this book. It's important to know what our government and other governments have done to our children that have already had repercussions.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pinter & Martin Publishing for the ARC. All opinions are mine and mine alone. :)

As a children’s nurse in training, this book gave me a great insight into how children felt during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is still affecting them now. I related to quite a lot of the book because I turned 18 in the first month of the lockdown and was still in college during this time. I was a still a teenager at that time, and this book has made me feel more normal for the emotions that I was experiencing at that time and the anxiety that I am still feeling 2 years after the pandemic. It made me feel validated that it is normal and most of the younger population are also going through it.

I didn’t have any children in the education system during the pandemic so didn’t know the full impact on children. This was a very interesting read and opening my eyes to the effect of the pandemic on your youngest citizens.

It should not be controversial to say that children should be protected. In fact, prior to 2020 it was universally agreed upon how important education, socialization, and physical movement were to children. And yet society still failed children with their response to the pandemic. The data has shown that children were more harmed by the effects of Covid restrictions than they were by Covid itself. With a survival rate of 99.995% for children, it’s unbelievable to fathom the consequences that the past 2+ years will still have on their mental and physical well-being.

Authors Liz Cole and Molly Kingsley were unapologetically fierce in their writing and I found them very persuasive. Without having school aged children in my household I did not realize the full extent of restrictions that were placed on children, and as I read more I became more and more appalled. Like when I imagined children being forced to eat their lunches outside in the freezing cold or schools still being closed while bars were open. The book has specific chapters to focus on individual topics like school closures, mask mandates, and vaccine recommendations all supported by data, professional sources, and personal stories.

Frankly I can’t imagine having a child experience what so many children have gone through throughout most of the world. Of course hindsight is 20/20 but the fact that the costs to children were blatantly not considered from the beginning is incredibly disappointing and a true failure on policymakers. The entire mindset of “Covid over everything” was a disgrace, and as adults we should be ashamed that we did not prioritize the protection of children.

I found the information in this book to be extremely eye opening and saved so many quotes. I thought the authors were very thorough and I was impressed with the amount of research they presented. It’s honestly confusing why people would find this information offensive and it’s sad that adults mistreated children at all but even sadder if they won’t admit it. I can only hope that the facts cannot be denied and these mistakes will not be made again in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pinter and Martin for an ARC of this book.

As a teacher the subject of this book is something that really intrigued me.
I thought it was interesting, but didn't really highlight too many things I wasn't aware of due to teaching throughout the pandemic. I completely agree with the things mentioned and the effects it has had on young people.
Think more people should read this!