Breaking Stalin’s Nose
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yelchin, Eugene. 2011. Breaking
Stalin’s Nose. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-9216-5
2. PLOT SUMMARY
A
young Sasha Zaichik is excited to join the Stalin’s youth organization, the
Young Pioneers. It is an event he has
been dreaming of as long as he can remember.
However, when his father is arrested from their home, Sasha begins to
question the political ideals that he has always believed. His father’s arrest sets off a chain of
events that alters the young boy’s entire belief system about the Communist
Party in the Soviet Union. Over the course of just a few days, Sasha matures
into a young boy who is able to make decisions about the world around him.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Breaking Stalin’s Nose is the 2012 Newbery Honor
book. It is Eugene Yelchin’s first
published book that he is the writer and illustrator and not solely the
illustrator. Yelchin intersperses
illustrations throughout the text of Breaking
Stalin’s Nose. This gives the
impression that the plot is appropriate for younger readers, however, the plot
complexities and subject matter are more appropriate for readers in late
elementary school or even middle school.
The group apartment lived in by Sasha and his father, and
the school classroom give a sense of realism to the setting that most readers
will be able to envision. Yelchin does
an exemplary job describing the political viewpoint of the times and the importance
of Stalin’s regime. The manner in which
the Communist Party is portrayed makes the book ideal for adult readers as
well. In addition to this, the accurate depiction of the tribulations that occurred living under
Stalin’s rule augments the story and adds to an overall positive literary
experience.
Readers will fall in love with Sasha and the personal growth
that he experiences in the book. Older
readers will be able to empathize with his maturing view of the world in which
he lives, and younger readers will connect with his forthrightness. As Sasha grows into his new ideas about the
Communist Party, it is clear that there are parallels between his personal
growth and the personal growth of other young people in various time periods.
Yelchin’s book won the Newbery Honor because it is an
excellent piece of literature for older children, and also for adults of all ages.
4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
- 2012 Newbery Honor Book
- 2012 Junior Library Guild Selection
- 2012 Distinguished Work of Historical Fiction Award - Children’s Literature Council of Southern California
- 2012 Women’s National Book Association’s Judy Lopez Memorial Award
- 2013 KS William Allen White Award
- The Best Children’s Books of 2011 by Hornbook
- The Best Children’s Books of 2011 by Washington Post
- 2012 Capitol Choices Book, Noteworthy Books for Children
Starred Review in Hornbook: ““…this brief novel gets at the heart of a society that asks its citizens, even its children, to report on relatives and friends. Appropriately menacing illustrations by first-time novelist Yelchin add a sinister tone.”
San Francisco Chronicle: “A miracle of brevity, this affecting
novel zeroes in on two days and one boy to personalize Stalin's killing machine
of the '30s. …black-and-white drawings march across the pages to juxtapose hope
and fear, truth and tyranny, small moments and historical forces, innocence and
evil.”
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s
Books: "The cat-and-mouse chase that pits Sasha’s whole world against
him will rivet middle-grade readers, but this title will hold special appeal
for older students whose grasp of content outstrips their reading
proficiency."
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
* A story about how
a lifetime of convictions can get turned upside down in an instant.
*Other books illustrated
by Eugene Yelchin:
The Next Door Bear. ISBN 006125925X
Heart of a Snowman.
ISBN 978-0061259265
Ghost Files: The Haunting Truth.
ISBN 978-0061283956
*Books that deal
with children in the Soviet Union and Russia:
Sis, Peter. The Wall:
Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. ISBN 978-0374347017
Lugovskaya. I Want
To Live: The Diary of a Young Girl in Stalin’s Russia. ISBN 978-0618605750