Breaking Stalin's Nose Review

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yelchin, Eugene. Breaking Stalin's Nose. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2011. ISBN 9781250034106

2.  PLOT SUMMARY
His mother is dead, and they came to arrest his father in the night. So, 10-year-old Sasha Zaichik suddenly finds himself alone and homeless the night before he his supposed to be inducted into the Young Soviet Pioneers and be the proudest boy in Stalin's Soviet Union. Instead of panicking, he goes where he thinks he should be — school, and finds that no one and nowhere is safe in the only country he has ever known.

3.  CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Author Eugene Yelchin grew up in Communist Soviet Union in the 1960s before he immigrated to the United States, but his father lived in the Soviet Union during Stalin's rule and Yelchin dedicated this book to his survival. Yelchin's experiences and the experiences of his father shaped the setting, storyline and highly emotional reality of his main character, 10-year-old Sasha Zaichik, in Breaking Stalin's Nose.

Sasha and his father live in a communal apartment in Moscow. His father works for the government and Sasha attends school. When his father is arrested for being a traitor, Sasha believes there must be a mistake. As far as he knew, his father held a position of power and respect with Stalin's government, and Sasha is convinced if he approached Stalin, he would free his father. After his father is taken, another family kicks Sasha out of his room in the apartment. He runs to find comfort in his family, but Sasha's aunt and uncle are afraid that the government will arrest them if they take him in, and so Sasha is forced to sleep in the basement of his aunt's apartment building.

In the morning, he heads to school hoping that his father will have been released and will preside, as planned, over his induction into the Young Soviet Pioneers. A series of unfortunate events teach Sasha how naive he is about the state of his country, how no line exists between right and wrong, and that teachers, principals, government representatives and even children are all operating in a state of fear and paranoia that will imprison or kill a number of Soviet people during Stalin's rule. Sasha learns early that survival is paramount.

Yelchin takes readers on a two-day tour of hopelessness as Sasha's situation goes from bad to worse. His black drawings illustrate the cold unfairness of his situation. The sadness and progression into utter despair by Sasha and two of his peers may be hard for young readers to absorb, but does open the door for readers to consider what freedom really is and form a more considerate view of the perils children face all over the world due to corrupt governments and unstable political climates.

Yelchin offers the reader a number of access points including an author's note, photos and explanatory captions, as well as a question and answer section with the author.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) and AWARDS
Newbery Medal Honor Book
Junior Library Guild Selection
Best Children's Book of 2011 by Horn Book Magazine
Best Children's Book of 2011 by The Washington Post
Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth by Booklist, 2012
Finalist for California Book Awards, 2012
Editor's Choice by Historical Novel Society, 2011

From Publishers Weekly
"Through Sasha's fresh and optimistic voice, Yelchin powerfully renders an atmosphere of fear that forces false confessions, even among schoolchildren, and encourages neighbors and family members to betray one another without evidence. Readers will quickly pick up on the dichotomy between Sasha's ardent beliefs and the reality of life under Stalinism, and be glad for his ultimate disillusion, even as they worry for his future." 

From Wall Street Journal
"Mr. Yelchin has compressed into two days of events an entire epoch, giving young readers a glimpse of the precariousness of life in a capricious yet ever-watchful totalitarian state." 

5. CONNECTIONS
Other books by Eugene Yelchin: 

• Arcady's Goal. ISBN 9780805098440
• The Haunting of Falcon House. ISBN 9780805098457

Additional background material on Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union:

• Archer, Jules. Man of Steel: Joseph Stalin: Russia's Ruthless Ruler. ISBN 9781634501774
• Hagen, Brenda. Joseph Stalin: Dictator of the Soviet Union. ISBN 9780756515973
• Morrell, Kathleen Berton. Russia. ISBN 9780679891185

Winston Churchill said, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Children may recognize the tactics Stalin's Soviet Union uses to give the illusion of choice for its people. This illusion is to choose to be with us or choose to be against us, which isn't much of a choice at all, but if you've grown up in the land of the free and the home of the brave, you may not have a firm understanding of what a dictatorship is.

By further studying the history of the Soviet Union and Russia and biographies about Stalin, children can build an understanding of warning signs and concerns related to authoritarian rule. Having students debate between democracy and dictatorship, so they can understand why both exist in the world will require further research and engagement from the whole class. It will also introduce concepts like checks and balances, the First Amendment, and the power of Nationalism.