Breaking Stalin's Nose facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Eugene Yelchin |
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| Illustrator | Eugene Yelchin |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Henry Holt and Co. |
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Publication date
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September 27, 2011 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 160 pp |
| ISBN | 9780805092165 |
| OCLC | 692291005 |
| LC Class | PZ7.Y3766 |
Breaking Stalin's Nose is a historical novel for young readers. It was written and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin and published in 2011. The story takes place in Moscow during the Stalin era, a time when Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union. The book follows a boy's journey as he starts to doubt his hero, Stalin, after his father is unfairly arrested.
This novel received a Newbery Honor award in 2012. This award recognizes excellent children's literature. It also won many other awards and honors. The book has been translated into several languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish.
Contents
The Story of Sasha Zaichik
The book begins in Moscow in the late 1940s or early 1950s. We meet 10-year-old Sasha Zaichik, who deeply believes in Communism. He is excited to join the Young Pioneers, a group for children. On the night before his induction, Sasha writes a letter praising Joseph Stalin.
Sasha lives in a shared apartment with his father. His father is a high-ranking member of the Communist Party. Sasha believes his mother died from an illness. However, the story suggests his father's strong loyalty to the party led to her disappearance. Sasha gives his letter to his father, hoping it will reach Stalin. Before bed, his father tells him to seek help from an aunt if they are ever separated.
A Sudden Change
In the middle of the night, secret police officers arrest Sasha's father. A neighbor, Stukachov, seems to have reported him. Stukachov wants Sasha's family's larger room for his own. Sasha is confused and thinks there's been a mistake. He decides to go to Stalin himself to fix things.
Guards chase him away from the Kremlin, where Stalin lives. Sasha then goes to his aunt's house. His aunt, fearing for her own family, gives him some money and sends him away. Sasha sleeps in the basement of her building. He tries to act normal and goes to school, even though he knows his father won't be at his Pioneer ceremony.
School Troubles
At school, Sasha faces his former friend, Vovka Sobakin. Vovka now bullies Sasha because his mother was American. To stop the bullying, Sasha throws a snowball at another boy, Borka Finkelstein. Borka is often picked on because he is Jewish and his parents were taken away. The snowball breaks Borka's glasses.
The teacher, Nina Petrovna, sends Borka to the principal. Later, Sasha is pressured to vote against Borka in class. Because he joins in, Sasha earns the honor of carrying a banner for the ceremony. He goes to get the banner.
A Broken Statue
While carrying the banner, Sasha accidentally breaks the nose off a statue of Stalin in the hallway. Panicked, he runs to the boys' washroom. Vovka confronts him there, knowing Sasha broke the statue. Vovka threatens to tell on him.
Back in class, Nina Petrovna asks the students to list suspects. The police are called. During a school assembly, Borka Finkelstein confesses. He is taken to jail, hoping to find his parents there. Sasha thinks he's safe, but Nina Petrovna announces an "enemy" is still among them. She reveals Vovka Sobakin's father was declared an enemy of the state and taken away. Vovka attacks her, and Sasha joins in.
Both boys are sent to the principal's office. The principal tells Sasha that the orphanage has been calling for him. This means the school knows Sasha is now also the child of an "enemy of the state." He cannot join the Young Pioneers. Sasha, once a devoted Communist, is now an outcast, just like Vovka and Borka.
Facing the Truth
Sasha is sent back to class without punishment. But when officials arrive to take him to the orphanage, he runs to a science lab. There, he imagines the broken nose of the Stalin statue talking to him. It tells him to forget his father and join the Communist Party. Sasha passes out and is revived.
He returns to class, where everyone knows his new status. Nina Petrovna moves him to the back of the room with the other outcasts. During ceremony preparations, Sasha jumps on desks. Suddenly, state police burst in. Sasha thinks they are there for him. Instead, they arrest Nina Petrovna. Vovka had placed the broken plaster nose in her desk drawer, perhaps for revenge. Sasha is then taken to the school's basement by the principal.
A New Path
In the basement, a senior lieutenant offers Sasha a chance to join the Young Pioneers. He wants Sasha to spy on his classmates. Sasha agrees, but at the last moment, as he waits to march into the ceremony, he changes his mind. He decides he doesn't want to be a Pioneer anymore and flees the school.
Alone and without a home, Sasha heads to the Kremlin. He hopes to see his father at the Lubyanka prison, a famous prison for political prisoners. He finds a long line of people waiting. He joins the end of the line, which will take days to reach the entrance. There, he meets a kind woman. She gives him a scarf and a baked potato. She knitted the scarf for her son, whom she is also waiting to see. When she learns Sasha has no family, she offers him her son's empty bed in her room. Sasha accepts, having nowhere else to go.
The book ends with Sasha and the woman waiting in line together, facing an uncertain future.
Awards and Recognition
- Newbery Honor Book
- The Washington Post Best Children's Book of the Year
- ALA Notable Children's Book
- Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction Book for Youth
- Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
- Horn Book Best Children's Book of the Year
- Junior Library Guild Selection
- Women's National Book Association's Judy Lopez Memorial Award Winner
- Michigan Library Association Mitten Award Recipient
- KS William Allen White Award
- Historical Novel Society Editor's Choice
- Children's Literature Council of Southern California Distinguished Work of Historical Fiction
- Children's Choice Book of the Year in Russia
