Breaking Stalin's Nose
Eugene Yelchin
Language: English
Pages: 176
ISBN: 1250034108
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Breaking Stalin's Nose is one of Horn Book's Best Fiction Books of 2011
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 awaited for so long, everything seems to go awry. He breaks a classmate's glasses with a snowball. He accidentally damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway. And worst of all, his father, the best Communist he knows, was arrested just last night.
Eugene Yelchin's moving story of a ten-year-old boy's world shattering is masterful in its simplicity, powerful in its message, and heartbreaking in its plausibility.
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
your spy nose into anything. Is that clear?” I’m trying to stop shivering, but the classroom is freezing and I’m soaked through. When Agafia, the cleaning woman, found me in the biology lab, I had passed out. She doused me with icy water to wake me up. Of course I kept quiet about Stalin’s nose. I don’t want them to think I’m crazy, on top of everything else. “When you hear the song ‘A Bright Future Is Open to Us,’” says Nina Petrovna, “you begin marching. The drums and the bugles march in
knee. “After all that’s happened, do you still want to become a Pioneer?” “I will not renounce my dad,” I say. “You won’t have to, Zaichik. In your case, we’re willing to make an exception.” Speaking in a secretive voice, he continues: “We’re offering you a rare opportunity to pledge assistance to the Soviet State Security. All you have to do is listen in, observe, and report suspicious behavior right here in your own school. Let your deep-felt devotion to Communism be your guide. You’ll be our
and listen for the drumroll, my cue to follow. I have waited for this moment all my life. I wanted it so badly. I would imagine myself marching into the main hall, beaming with pride, all eyes upon me. Then I’d see myself standing on a podium beneath the huge face of Stalin, eager for my turn to have the Pioneers scarf tied around my neck. How happy I felt when my dad told me he would tie my scarf. I could see it: He’d step up to me, lay the scarf across my shoulders, tie the knot as the rule
enter, wondering what’s holding me up. I see their faces—the kids’, the teachers’, the janitor Matveich’s, the cleaning lady Agafia’s, Principal Sergei Ivanych’s, and, next to the podium, that of the State Security senior lieutenant who has replaced my dad as guest of honor. My dad, who is in prison. My dad, who said last night, “Tomorrow’s a big day.” He was right. It was a big day. It changed my life forever. I take a last look at the banner, turn away, and dash out the back door, down the
and Dubasov darts out of the way, embarrassed. The lieutenant doesn’t even look at the box. We are still applauding when he unbuckles his holster, pulls out his pistol, and points it at the ceiling. The cafeteria turns dead silent right away. He slips the pistol back into the holster. His eyes search the crowd, but his head doesn’t move. I shift to where I think he won’t see me, but I can’t be sure; those eyes look like they see through walls. “Whoever chipped the nose off the statue will now