A young communist boy in the Soviet Union named Sasha has been training to become a Soviet Pioneer, just like his highly admired father. On the day of his ceremony to become a Young Pioneer, his place in the communist society is nearly revoked when he makes a very big mistake in his elementary school. Will this boy be able to prove his innocent intentions before it's too late? Will he reconsider his desires to become a Pioneer? Read a bit about the life of a ten-year-old Soviet boy who goes from idolizing Stalin to questioning all he's ever believed.
Sasha Zaichik has known the laws of the Soviet Young Pioneers since the age of six
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.
We use this book in our school for our Middle Schoolers!