First published 2012
Sasha Zaichik has memorized every rule of the Soviet Young Pioneers. At ten years old, he knows that Pioneers devote themselves to Comrade Stalin, the Communist Party, and Communism. They act as reliable comrades. They criticize shortcomings when they see them. Today should be the proudest day of his life as he finally joins their ranks. Instead, everything falls apart. Sasha throws a snowball that shatters a classmate's glasses. He stumbles in the school hallway and breaks Stalin's nose clean off the bronze bust. These accidents pale beside the real catastrophe: his father, whom Sasha considers the finest Communist in all of Moscow, was taken away by the secret police during the night. As his carefully ordered world collapses, Sasha must reconcile the Communist ideals he has been taught with the harsh reality unfolding around him. His faith in the system battles against the evidence of his own eyes in this story of childhood innocence meeting political brutality.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, political-thriller
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, disillusionment
Setting: Moscow, Soviet Union
Period: 20th Century
1 pages · Audio CD · Recorded Books, Inc. and Blackstone Publishing