I'm so glad this book won a 2012 Newbery Honor; otherwise, I might have overlooked it. Brilliantly written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin, this story about ten-year-old comrade Sasha Zaichik, a dedicated Communist youth whose father is a government snitch, illustrates the innocence of children, their devotion to their parents and how easily their lives can be broken. One day, Sasha's father is arrested as a traitor. (In truth, another family in their communal apartment turns him in because they want their larger room.)Sasha's life unravels that day at school. He suddenly sees the world he embraced from the other (terrifying) side of the looking glass. It is realistic that even when he accepts his and his father's fate, he still can't process the information he's been given that his father turned in his mother who was subsequently killed. He's just a boy. The author's note reminds young readers, "To this day, there are places in the world where people face persecution and death for making a choice about they believe to be right."