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Breaking Stalin's Nose
by
Eugene Yelchin (Goodreads Author)
Sasha Zaichik has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six:
The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.
A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.
A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings.
But now that it is finally time to join the Young Pioneers, the day Sasha has...more
The Young Pioneer is devoted to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism.
A Young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to conscience.
A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings.
But now that it is finally time to join the Young Pioneers, the day Sasha has...more
Kindle Edition
Published
(first published September 27th 2011)
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Yelchin's debut novel examines life in Stalinist Russia through the eyes of Sasha, a young boy who idolizes Stalin. He believes the lies and half truths he has been told and rationalizes anomalies that don't fit his vision of Stalin's glorious leadership until the night before he is to join the Young Pioneers, the night his father is betrayed and arrested, the night he begins to see the painful truth about his father, his friends, and his idol. The explicit theme is shared by a substitute teache...more
This book flew invisibly past my radar. I hadn't heard of it or even seen it until I read that it won the Newbery Honor. Obviously, I had to rectify that, so when my latest batch of books came from the library yesterday, full of this year's award winners, I wanted to read this one first.
Synopsis: Ten-year-old Sasha is a fervently loyal Stalinist, who is excited to become a part of the Young Pioneers (Stalin's youth organization) and extremely proud of his father, who works for the State Security...more
Synopsis: Ten-year-old Sasha is a fervently loyal Stalinist, who is excited to become a part of the Young Pioneers (Stalin's youth organization) and extremely proud of his father, who works for the State Security...more
This is the book that I read for our historical fiction week. It was a great quick read that can easily be incorporated into any middle school history curriculum. It is not graphic but does go into how people disappear and get taken away by the government. It takes place in the Stalin Era of Russia where the communist party was in full swing. It is told from the perspective of a 10 year old boy who is living in Russia over the control of the government. What makes this story unique is that the b...more
o Your full name: Karen Henspeter
o APA citation: Yelchin, E. (2012). Breaking stalin’s nose. New York, NY: Henry Holt.
o Genre: Historical fiction
o Format: Print
o Selection process:
Top 10 historical fiction for youth. (2012). Booklist, 108(16), 74.
o Review:
Young Sasha Zaichik, whose American mother died and whose Soviet father works as a Communist spy during the Cold War period, wants to be a Young Pioneer more than anything else. He admires his father deeply and idolizes Stalin, believing th...more
o APA citation: Yelchin, E. (2012). Breaking stalin’s nose. New York, NY: Henry Holt.
o Genre: Historical fiction
o Format: Print
o Selection process:
Top 10 historical fiction for youth. (2012). Booklist, 108(16), 74.
o Review:
Young Sasha Zaichik, whose American mother died and whose Soviet father works as a Communist spy during the Cold War period, wants to be a Young Pioneer more than anything else. He admires his father deeply and idolizes Stalin, believing th...more
From the very first few lines, the message of this book became instantly powerful for me. Young Sasha, a 10 year-old boy living in the communist Soviet Union at the time of Joseph Stalin, openly pities anyone forced to live in a capitalist society. He considers it a privilege to share a residence with twelve other families, where there is only one bathroom for all of them and one ring on the stove for each family. He glorifies having minimal personal possessions and considers everything else to...more
When I was a teen, I read The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which delves deep into the Soviet forced labor camps, and other similar books, both fiction and nonfiction, by Russian and Chinese authors, that gave me a close look at the worst of communism in both the Soviet Union and Cultural Revolution China. For kids too young for those books, this book is perfect. I read it out aloud to my late elementary-school-aged, early-middle-school-aged children so that we could discuss it to...more
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When I read one of these disillusionment stories, it's so predictable for it to be about the Soviet bloc. The fact that it's historical fiction doesn't change this, because the themes are still there. I remember when Laura Apol suggested we consider that Lois Lowry's The Giver might actually be about our own society instead of some other, it blew open the way I read dystopia novels. So the big question is, does a novel like this help me consider the ways I blindly buy into the party line or does...more
Feb 13, 2013
Carolyn Roys
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
rebecca-caudill-2014
This title caught my eye when I was shelving books so a grabbed it then two weeks later it appeared on the Caudill list. Thus it went to the top of the pile. It is definitely geared toward teh younger readers but kids will be fasinated with Sasha's story, especially if they know nothing of communist Russia of years ago. I can't imagine living in a world where at anytime the door will open and I or my parents could just disappear. Sasha is led to believe his mother died in the hospital. Only late...more
Intense, with marvelous art that makes it even more so. Do not read this at bedtime - I had nightmares. Be careful about which children you recommend it to - some are not ready for the themes, even if they are generally reading beyond 'illustrated early chapter' books.
The most important thing to realize is that the story is true. I don't know about these *exact* details and characters, but as the author notes, for those of us who have not learned history, this kind of thing happened *twenty mil...more
The most important thing to realize is that the story is true. I don't know about these *exact* details and characters, but as the author notes, for those of us who have not learned history, this kind of thing happened *twenty mil...more
2014 Rebecca Caudill nominee. Historical fiction, 1930's USSR under Josef Stalin. Sasha Zaichik, age 10, dreams of joining the Young Pioneers, the first step in becoming a certified good communist. He has every right to believe in his dream--he's learned all the Young Pioneers principles, believes in them, and lives by them. He's the star student in his class and his father is a decorated member of Stalin's State Security. All this turns upside down, however, when his father is arrested and (Sas...more
Wow! I read this book in one sitting and it didn't take long. Although written as historical fiction, this book is based on the real life of the author. A realistic look into the life of the Russian people living under Stalin's iron fist. The people lived in terror every day of their lives, not just of the government, but of each other. There was no trust amongst the people and they never knew if their neighbors would turn them in to the government on suspicions of being a spy. The government co...more
This is a very powerful book about the Communist reign of terror that is seldom mentioned from a child's perspective. This was a Newbery honor book for 2012 and rightly deserves its recognition. While this is presented as a children's book I would be hesitant to let anyone under 12 years of age read this book. It deals with a very heavy subject matter that younger readers may not fully understand or might be upset by. It would make a great group discussion book so that children can ask questions...more
This is a story that would be great to read for anyone studying the Stalin regime. It would help students understand the conditions in which people lived, the worry of someone always turning them in- and the atrocity of killing people when they are found guilty after confessing under torture. The story relates a young boy and how they live with 48 people in a small apartment. It brings up the feelings he has that he wants to be like his dad, to be a Pioneer, and always be ready to fight for comm...more
It's interesting that I read this book so soon after I finished the Matched trilogy. So much of what happens in the fictional world of "Matched" is similarly alluded to in the based-on-history world of "Breaking Stalin's Nose" - things like absolute faith in an government entity, people belonging to the government and the society rather than themselves, no personal property, communal living and food rationing (in "Breaking Stalin's Nose," one girl sleeps next to the toilet and carrots are consid...more
This book is about a young boy who loves Stalin. His father is publically praised by Stalin and the young boy is positive he is going to be a 'spy catcher' just like his father one day. One night, Stalin's people come and take away his father for being a traitor and the young boy is forced to figure out what to do all on his own. He starts to open his eyes to what kind of man Stalin is, and changes his mind on wanting to become Stalin's right hand man. At the end he realizes he has lost his moth...more
This is a compelling look at the Stalin-era Soviet Union, but is it a children's book? The main character is young (10 yrs. old) and thinks with the limited perspective of a child, but the fear and loss in this book could easily be overpowering to a young reader, and the inclusion of picture-scenes (reminiscent of Selznick's Hugo Cabret), larger text, larger line spacing, and shorter overall length (151 small pages) gives this book the impression of being for the transitional reader (3-4th grade...more
This is a great book about communism and Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union. However, this book is from the perspective of Sasha Zaichik, a ten year old boy. Sasha could wait to be initiated into the Young Pioneers and be just like his father. Unfortunately, Sasha's father was arrested in the middle of the night and Sasha was left alone in the streets, to fend for himself. He was sure there had been some sort of mistake. At school the next day, Sasha tries to keep his fathers' arrest under-wraps...more
Oct 10, 2012
Ann Carpenter
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical,
newbery
This was an excellent look at life in Stalin's Russia from the viewpoint of a young boy whose unwavering and unquestioning support of Stalin is suddenly stripped from him after his beloved father is arrested. The scene setting was fabulously done, some of the best "you are there" I've seen. I loved that the author didn't spell things out for the reader. We are solidly in Sasha's head the entire time, but he leaves clues that Sasha may not fully understand everything. The neighbors that he is con...more
Oct 06, 2012
Victoria Whipple
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction
I listened to the Recorded Books version of Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin. This is the story of young Sasha Zaichik, who has been raised by his father to profess the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers from an early age. Sasha professes his love and admiration for Comrade Stalin in the opening of the book. He wants nothing more than to wear the scarf around his neck that will signal his belonging. But then his father, a top SS officer, is arrested and Sasha is kicked out of his room. He...more
I liked this book from the perspective of a boy raised in a communist society. This book is an interesting way to spin communism and is also interesting that it is a children's book. Some of the information in the book I was only able to identify as part of World War II era because of high school and college history and movies like "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas". It might be hard for a younger child ages 8-11 (the age it is aimed at) because the references might be misunderstood. Although cou...more
I always think that books are supposed to make you feel things and this book definitely made me feel a barrage of different emotions. Sasha is a good communist. He wants nothing more then to become a pioneer but the night before the ceremony the police come to arrest his father. Sasha believes that it's an error however from that point on everything seems to wrong for him.
At first I enjoyed the book but felt bad for Sasha. He just seemed so clueless. As the book wore on I just started to dread i...more
At first I enjoyed the book but felt bad for Sasha. He just seemed so clueless. As the book wore on I just started to dread i...more
Once in a blue moon, I read a book that takes my breath away. I read (in one sitting) one such children’s historical fiction recently – Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin. I first knew Yelchin as a talented illustrator, so was glad to see his drawings illuminate his story here.
In this simple chapter book, a depth of insight is revealed, not only about Russia in the early to mid 1900’s, but insight into all fear-driven societies. And we should never be so arrogant as to think it can’t happe...more
In this simple chapter book, a depth of insight is revealed, not only about Russia in the early to mid 1900’s, but insight into all fear-driven societies. And we should never be so arrogant as to think it can’t happe...more
This book gave me nightmares. It was horrible. Okay, it wasn't horribly written or horrible because of anything the author did wrong, but the story was horrible. It was about communism and it was terrifying. Neighbors were turning each other in. Families were turning each other away--refusing to help each other or even acknowledge each other. People were pointing fingers and people were being killed. And it was just this freakish witch hunt where no one was really doing anything wrong in the fir...more
Stalinist Russia needs to have light shown upon its secret genocide. Told with the simplicity necessary for the audience, this complex story of lies and truth, moral ambiguity, and authoritarian regimes resounds. From the literary imagery to the profound conflict of the main character, this historical fiction sets the stage of the dystopian novels that are currently so very popular. This books would fit well into the seventh grade moral ambiguity curriculum and as a precursor to the dystopia uni...more
Sasha Zaichik dreams of being a Young Pioneer. He is devote to Stalin and the Communist Party. He practices to be a Young Pioneer and writes letters to Stalin. But the day before he is to join his father is arrested, turned in by a neighbor who wants their larger room. At school Sasha acts like nothing has changed but then he accidentally breaks the nose off a stature of Stalin. Will he be sent to prison with his father? What is he going to do?
This was an engrossing read. I read it pretty much i...more
This was an engrossing read. I read it pretty much i...more
Jun 10, 2012
Betty-Ann
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction
This story is set in the Soviet Union during the time of Stalin’s reign of terror. Sasha is a young boy who is completely supportive of communism. The story begins: “My Dad is a hero and a Communist and, more than anything, I want to be like him. I can never be like Comrade Stalin, of course. He’s our great Leader and Teacher.” It goes on to describe Sasha’s excitement of becoming a Young Pioneer, completely devoted to Stalin and the Communist Party. However, on the eve of this most important da...more
"Between Shades of Grey" by Ruta Sepetys is one of my favorite reads of the past year or so. I loved that it taught the reader about an aspect of the World II era that most know little about. At the same time that Hitler was executing millions in Eastern Europe, Stalin was responsible for the deaths of approximately 20 million individuals in Russia. "Breaking Stalin's Nose," a Newbery Honor book by Eugene Velchin, looks at this time in Russian history. Velchin, having been raised in Russia by a...more
May 12, 2012
Talia
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
j-historicalfic,
j-fiction
Sasha Zichik is excited to finally join the Soviet Young Pioneers, for then he can become a great communist, just like his two heroes: his dad, and Joseph Stalin. One night, before Sasha’s Young Pioneers ceremony, his father is taken away by soldiers and Sasha’s life is turned upside down. Before his ceremony, Sasha takes a hard look at the life lead in Russia and wonders for a moment if it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Really? This got a Newberry honor? Blech. This started out ok for me, but...more
Really? This got a Newberry honor? Blech. This started out ok for me, but...more
Newbery
This historical fiction picture book is about a young boy, Sasha, who has great promise in becoming a young pioneer serving Stalin. The night before being inducted, his father was taken away by officials. Not fully understanding what had happened, Sasha believes that his father being taken had to have been some kind of mistake. The following day, Sasha accidentally breaks the nose of of a statue of Stalin. Things get progressively worse for Sasha. He realizes that everything he believed i...more
This historical fiction picture book is about a young boy, Sasha, who has great promise in becoming a young pioneer serving Stalin. The night before being inducted, his father was taken away by officials. Not fully understanding what had happened, Sasha believes that his father being taken had to have been some kind of mistake. The following day, Sasha accidentally breaks the nose of of a statue of Stalin. Things get progressively worse for Sasha. He realizes that everything he believed i...more
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Feb 07, 2013 07:35pm