Heroes by Alan Gratz

Frank McCoy and his best friend Stanley Summers live on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, located ten miles west of Honolulu, on the island of Oahu. It is a little island in the middle of the harbor which is both a body of water and the name of the United States military base. While Stanley has grown up in Hawai'i, with his father and his Japanese American mother, Mitsuko, Frank has moved there from Pensacola, Florida where his father was previously stationed. Frank, along with his older sister Ginny and their parents now live next door to Stanley in a row of bungalows they call Nob Hill. Frank's father is a Navy pilot, while Stanley's father is a flight crew chief at the air station. He is in charge of fixing the planes that Frank's father flies. Frank's sister Ginny who works as a secretary at Dole Pineapple in Honolulu,  is dating Brooks Leonard, a seaman second class on the USS Utah. 

Frank and Stanley have a shared interest in creating a comic book with Frank doing the story and Stanley doing the illustrations. Making their way home from baseball practice in a small aluminum boat, the two friends discuss their ideas for a superhero they want to name, the Arsenal of Democracy. When they arrive at Ford Island, they find two boys, Arthur Edwards and Johnny Ross picking on a younger boy, Charlie Moon. When Stanley goes to intervene, he gets attacked by the boys and punched. But instead of coming to the aid of his best friend, Frank freezes up and watches as Stanley is beaten. This angers Stanley who can't understand why Frank, who is much bigger than the other boys, didn't come to his aid. What his best friend doesn't know is that Frank is terrified of almost everything.

When they arrive at their homes, Frank's sister Ginny immediately senses the tension between the two boys but she thinks it is due to an argument. 

Brooks offers to take Stanley and Frank on a tour of the Utah early on Sunday morning. For Stanley it means a break from Japanese school. Frank meanwhile is struggling to tell his friend why he didn't step in to help him during the fight. On Sunday morning the two friends take their boat down carrier row where the Utah and the light cruisers, Raleigh and Detroit are docked. They are greeted by Brooks Leonard when they climb aboard the Utah. The ship feels safe, powerful and invincible. 

Just as Frank begins to explain to Stanley why he didn't come to his aid during the fight, they see a squadron of fighters approaching from the northwest. This is quickly followed by fiery explosions on Ford Island. Confused and surprised, everyone believes this is a drill but as the planes buzz the Utah Frank sees a "meatball" on the bottom of the plane's winds. This is what  the red rising sun of the Japanese flag is called by Americans.

Quickly Frank, Stanley, and Brooks realize the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor. Within seconds the ships are being torpedoed. The Utah begins sinking, tilting toward the harbor. Stanley wants to get off the ship but Brooks tells them to take cover behind the large stacks of timber on the deck. Caught in the middle of an attack, with the Utah capsizing, Frank, Stanley and Brooks must abandon ship. This will mean jumping into the shark infested waters of Pearl Harbor with torpedoes and bullets exploding all around them? 

Discussion

Heroes is another historical fiction book written for middle school readers, this time with the focus on the attack on Pearl Harbor. Set against this dramatic scene, Gratz explores what defines a "hero". 

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, thirteen-year-old Frank McCoy stands frozen to the side as his best friend Stanley is beaten by two boys. Despite being bigger than both of the boys who attack Stanley, Frank doesn't step in because he's afraid of getting hurt. This creates tension between the two boys as Stanley has no idea why Frank didn't help him.

The reality is that Frank lives in constant fear of getting hurt. He worries about sharks, eels, volcanoes and plane crashes. About getting struck by lightning, or burning himself on the barbecue, or wearing flip flops. Frank took advanced swimming lessons in case he ever had to swim to shore. Ironically, this skill does help him save a trapped sailor during the attack.

Upset by his friend's seeming cowardice and not yet knowing the cause, Stanley tells Frank what he believes defines a hero. The boys are talking about the design of their comic book superhero when Stanley tells Frank what defines a hero. "A real hero steps in when they see people getting hurt, no matter what." He explains to Frank he likes Superman because "...he uses his powers to help people who're in trouble, for no other reason than it's the right thing to do." 

Frank does eventually come clean to Stanley but it isn't until the boys are on Ford Island as it's being bombed by the Japanese. Frank now feels that he doesn't have to hide his fear and that maybe Stanley will understand. He explains that a vicious dog attack in third grade is behind his fear of getting hurt. The attack left him with ropy scars on his stomach and a lasting state of fear. Since that time, he is constantly evaluating the relative danger of everything.

However, Frank's actions during the bombing of Pearl Harbor demonstrate that he is no coward. Initially he behaves as he's been doing for the past five years - either trying to avoid danger or freezing when confronted with danger. This is seen when Stanley saves a sailor from tracer fire on the deck of the Utah while Frank remains frozen in fear. But when Frank and Stanley are in a launch that needs to go to the Raleigh to get a torch to free sailors trapped in the Utah, it is Frank who suggests they swim the rest of the way to Ford Island, allowing the launch to do the rescue. 

Then on their way to taking a wounded sailor to the hospital on Oahu in a boat, Frank and Stanley encounter a young sailor trapped in the water by a ring of burning oil. To Stanley's shock, Frank decides he will swim underwater to rescue the sailor. His decision to take this risk is a dramatic change, one that Stanley does not want to be involved in. Stanley wants them to save themselves, but Frank knows he can save this sailor from a gruesome death despite the sharks, eels, fire and risk of running out of air.

"Who was this Frank McCoy who wanted to jump into burning water to try and rescue some man he'd never met before....Was I the Frank McCoy who froze up when the going got tough? Or was I the Frank McCoy who could be brace in the face of danger? Who stood up for his friends in a fight? Who helped people when they were in trouble? I was still afraid. Of pretty much everything.....But of all the things in the world I was afraid of, I suddenly realized that my greatest fear was being too scared to do the right thing."

Gratz's portrayal of the chaos and destruction during the Pearl Harbor attack seem very realistic with the exception of the two boy's continued focus on how their superheroes would behave. It's likely that the terror, chaos, and the immediate prospect of death would quickly replace any ideas of superheroes in these young boys minds. They have seen the dead body of a young sailor Brooks Leonard whom they both know. Suddenly the reality of the attack and the possibility of their own deaths would be foremost in their minds. They would be focused on surviving and helping others to survive.

Heroes allows young readers to experience through the eyes of two young boys, the cataclysmic event that pushed the United States into the war. The story also portrays how the pre-existing discrimination towards Japanese Americans led people like Stanley's mother to bury treasured family heirlooms to save their families. The story also tackles the issue of anxiety in children, with the main character, Frank McCoy having suffered for years from unaddressed anxiety. In the case of Frank, he seems to conquer his fears quite suddenly and become a hero.

Author Alan Gratz has included the comic book that the fictional Frank and Stanley produce after the war called The Arsenal of Democracy. Readers should note that the comic panels were drawn by the real life illustrator Judit Tondora. There is a map of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 showing the position of the various boats, submarines and Frank and Stanley's homes. The Author's Note includes information on the attack on Pearl Harbor and how the consequences of the attack played out for the war, for the United States and for Japan as well as the legacy of Pearl Harbor. Gratz also discusses how he incorporated the events of Pearl Harbor into his story. 

Book Details:

Heroes by Alan Gratz
New York: Scholastic Press   2024

219 pp.

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

Eighteen year old Salama Kassab is struggling to survive in Old Homs with her sister-in-law Layla.  A year ago, the Arab Spring ignited Syrians' demands for freedom from the dictatorship ruling their country for decades. But the dictatorship ruling Syria brutally fought back. Salama's Baba and her brother Hamza went to the first protest but were taken away and imprisoned. Prior to leaving for the protest, Hamza had made Salama promise to care for their mother and his wife, Layla. Then a week later, Mama was killed when their house was destroyed by a bomb. Salama was also injured, receiving a head wound and wounds from shrapnel in her hands. 

After she recovered, Salama began working at Zaytouna Hospital. Prior to the revolution, life was very different for Salama and her family. Salama had dreams of attending university, becoming a pharmacist at Zaytouna Hospital and traveling the world. But as the protests continued, the government began killing the doctors, leading to a shortage of those who could treat the wounded. With only one year of pharmacy school, Salama found herself  pressed into working as a doctor at the hospital.

When Salama returns home from a shift at the hospital, Layla who is seven months pregnant, asks if she's spoken to Am at the hospital about paying for a boat to take them across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. But Salama has been stalling. Alone in her room, Salama is visited by Khawf. He is, as Salama describes, "My terror has mutated in my mind, bestowed with a life and a voice that never fails to show up at night." Khwaf insists that Salama ask Am about the boat. He warns her that he will "tear her world apart" unless she does this. Salama has a vision of her promise to her brother Hamza to keep Layla and Mama safe. She has a flashback to the day their mother died when their building was bombed.

At the hospital the next day, Dr. Zaid  who has connections to the Free Syrian Army, orders Salama to help the children who are casualties of a bomb hitting Al-Ghouta. Salama eventually speaks with Am, who tells her that he will drive her to Tartus, where they take a boat to Italy and then a bus to Germany. Am's price is four thousand dollars! This information is devastating to Salama because they do not have the money. Layla's solution is for them to sell some of their gold.

At the hospital, Salama is heartbroken as she watches a little boy named Ahmad slowly die from a head wound. Then she sees a boy who had brought in his sister with a shrapnel wound the previous day, arrive frantic. Salama follows him to his home where she finds his nine-year-old sister in pain from a piece of shrapnel still embedded in her stomach. Salama removes the metal and gives them medicine. Salama is certain she's met this boy, named Kenan before and she learns that his name is Kenan Aljendi. Salama and he were supposed to meet at a marriage proposal set up by their mothers, but the revolution prevented the meeting.

Staying overnight at Kenan's home due to the snipers, Salama learns that he has no plans to leave Syria because his videos on YouTube are showing the world what is happening. Salama challenges Kenan to record what is happening within the hospital and he agrees and Dr. Ziad gives his permission. 

Then Am arrives with his daughter Samar, who has a bullet wound in her neck. Salama threatens to let his daughter bleed to death if he doesn't get her and Layla on a boat. Desperate, Am agrees and Salama saves Samar. Over the next few days Salama bargains with Am and secures passage for her and Layla. In the meantime, her relationship with Kenan continues to blossom; they get engaged and marry. At the same time the war comes to Homs when the military breaks through the Free Syrian Army. Salama, Kenan and his siblings barely escape with their lives. It becomes apparent to both Salama and Kenan that staying in their beloved Syria is no longer an option. But will they survive the treacherous journey to freedom? "If we stay we die.....If we leave we might die."

Discussion

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow is a story about hope and resiliency amidst the horrors of Syrian revolution.

Katouh has crafted a very realistic character in Salama Kassab; she is intelligent, courageous and resilient.  Like any young woman,  eighteen-year-old Salama had hopes and dreams: she was a pharmacy student with a bright future. She now works as a doctor in the hospital in Old Homs trying to save the victims of the Syrian government's attacks. Salama has lost all of her family and is suffering from the effects of PTSD. The trauma she has experienced as a result of her own injuries and from treating the wounded and dying manifests as hallucinations. 

One hallucination is a man dressed in a suit with drops of blood on the lapels whom Salama has named Khawf which is Arabic for fear.  Salama knows that Khawf is a creation of her mind, helping her to process her trauma and survive. "He's a defense mechanism my brain has provided, trying to ensure my survival by any means necessary..."  Every time Khawf "appears", he torments Salama, telling her she needs to leave Syria, to escape via a boat across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and then to Germany. Salama recognizes what he is and what he's trying to do. "Maybe the reason he's willing to break me in order to get me on a boat can be explained in a scientific manner: He's a defense mechanism my brain has provided, trying to ensure my survival by any means necessary." 

This leaves Salama deeply conflicted: she loves her country yet wants to help her fellow Syrians achieve freedom. Fleeing Syria feels like abandoning her country and seems wrong. Staying means breaking her promise to Hawza to protect their Mama and Layla to keep them safe and to risk death. To cope, Salama's mind has created a figure who will take responsibility for her actions.

Khawf also serves to show Salama the reality of what her life has become. As Salama continues to question whether or not to leave, Khawf reminds her through flashbacks of her life that once was, telling her,  "...of what true happiness was. This doesn't exist anymore. This isn't something you'll find here."

Salama's trauma is so profound that she has also been experiencing detachment from reality by way of a second hallucination. This hallucination is foreshadowed in a description of a sniper attack near her home that she describes to Kenan and is revealed later on in the novel. Kenan helps her to deal with this hallucination and it vanishes.

In contrast to Salama, is the quiet perseverance and determination of Kenan who offers her hope, unconditional love and the ability to see colour again in life, amidst all the blood and death. Dr. Ziad is representative of the Syrian "martyrs" who have remained in Syria, resisting the military.

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow effectively portrays the plight of Syrian refugees, highlighting their deep love for their country, and the desperation that motivates them to leave. Katouh portrays the brutality, destruction and loss individual Syrians experienced during the conflict: the cold blooded murder of children, the bombing of hospitals, sniper attacks that target women and children and the gassing of civilians. In her Author's Note, Katouh writes, "This novel delves into the human emotion behind the conflict, because we are not numbers. For years Syrians have been tortured, murdered, and banished from their country at the hands of a tyrannical regime, and we owe it to them to know their stories."

The lemon trees, referenced in the title and throughout the novel,  are a symbol of hope, that someday Syria will be free. The author has indicated that the title is a reference to a line in one of the poems of Syrian poet, lawyer and diplomat Nizar Qabbani, "every lemon shall bring forth a child and lemons will never die out." - a reference to a hopeful future, that Syria will survive. 

Despite the heavy issues explored in the novel - and there are many, the story ends on a hopeful tone. As they are readying to leave Syria, Salama tells Kenan, "And we will come back," I say, my voice wavering. "Insh'Allah, we will come back home. We will plant new lemon trees. We'll rebuild our cities, and we will be free."

Although listed as a young adult novel, As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow is suited for older teens and adults.  Zoulfa Katouh plans a sequel to As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow which will explore life as a refugee and explore the themes of recovering identity, racism and trauma. 

Book Details:

As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

New York: Little, Brown and Company    2022
417 pp.

Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen

Sixteen year old Petula De Wilde lives with her mother and father in a four-storey walkup called the Arcadia in Vancouver's West End, B.C. A family tragedy, the death of Petula's little sister Maxine three years earlier, has derailed her life and that of her parents.

Petula and her best friend Rachel were ten years old when their mothers were each expecting a second child. Petula and Rachel were "crafting fiends" who spent their weekends making anything and everything. Petula's sister, Maxine Ella was born first and Rachel's brother Owen was born shortly afterwards. Maxine was a sweet, happy child whose favourite book was Where the Wild Things Are.

For Maxine's third birthday, Petula and Rachel made her a wolf costume with brown buttons which Petula sewed on to the front of the suit. One November evening over two years ago, Petula stayed home with Maxine while their parents went shopping. Maxine was fussy that day but Petula still put her down for her nap even though Maxine threw a temper tantrum. Eventually she calmed down and Petula thought Maxine fell asleep. When her parents returned and her father went to get Maxine he found her dead. She had been sucking on one of the buttons and it came loose, lodging in her throat, suffocating her. From this terrible event Petula learned to "always expect the worst."

Since Maxine's death, Petula is always preparing for something terrible to happen and she lives her life with this in mind. She only crosses at designated crosswalks and intersections, she scans the pavement for suspicious objects and bags, she avoids construction sites frequently checks that she's not being followed and carries a rape whistle. Her friendship with Rachel was destroyed when Petula could not bear to see Rachel with Owen and behaved cruelly towards her.

Maxine's death also seriously affected Petula's parents and their marriage. After Maxine's death her parents sold their cozy apartment on Comox. Her father who loved to play music stopped doing so and he's frequently absent from home. Her mother has taken to volunteering for the Vancouver Feline Rescue Association and has taken in six cats. The cats have helped drag Petula's mother "out of her pit of despair after Maxine died, which was something no one else -- not me, not my dad, not her therapist -- had been able to do." But they have also created tension between Petula's mom and dad.

After Maxine's death, Petula is sent to counselling with the school counsellor, Carol Polachuk. However, when she throws a cup at Polachuk, it's decided Petula will attend YART, the school's Youth Art Therapy group once per week. The group is facilitated by Betty Ingledrop who is their art therapist. The group consists of Alonzo Perez who attempted suicide after he came out to his family, Ivan (the Terrible) whose mother drowned two years ago on vacation in Mexico, and Koula Apostolos who is an alcoholic and drug addict. And then there is a new member, the Bionic Man.

The first time Petula sees the Bionic Man is when he is leaving Carol Polachuk's office in the counselling suite. The second time happens when Petula faints during her presentation on the 9/11 disaster. After being checked out by the nurse, Petula talks with Mr. Watley, the principal of St. Margaret SS who encourages her to try to avoid panic attack triggers. When leaving Watley's office, Petula bumps into Bionic Man again. He is at least four inches taller than Petula who stands at 5 ft 11 inches. He introduces himself as Jacob Cohen and offers her his black bionic hand to shake. They meet a third time in English class when Jacob is assigned to be Petula's partner for a class project involving adapting a portion of Wuthering Heights into a screenplay or stage play. Petula want's nothing to do with Jacob but after their YART session he attempts to get her phone number.

On the weekend Jacob shows up a Petula's apartment and meets her parents. He tells them that his family just moved to Vancouver in the past month after his parents got job transfers from Toronto. While at her apartment, Jacob discovers Petula's scrapbook that she keeps with clippings of disasters. She explains to Jacob that she's a pessimist and that the scrapbook reminds her to be vigilant.

As Petula and Jacob's relationship grows, and as she attends more YART sessions, Petula begins to change. Outings with her friends from YART lead Petula to use a public washroom. She reaches out to her estranged friend Rachel and begins to try to recover their friendship. With the encouragement of Jacob, Petula begins to confront her fears. But while Petula and the other YART members open up about their lives, Jacob remains secretive about his past. She can't find him online or on social media and he's insistent that their video project not be posted to YouTube. As Petula begins to heal emotionally, she must face some hard truths about her parents and about the boy she loves.

Discussion

Set in Vancouver, B.C. Optimists Die First is the story of a young girl who struggles to cope with a series of challenging situations in her life and with the help of friends eventually arrives on the path to healing and forgiveness. Petula De Wilde and her parents are still attempting to come to terms with the death of her younger sister, Maxine, when her parents decide to separate. In addition to this, Petula discovers the boy whom she is in a serious relationship with is involved in a drunk-driving accident that resulted in the deaths of his two best friends.

This would seem to be a large number of heavy subjects to tackle but Nielsen manages her story well through the use of humour. Optimists Die First is laugh-out-loud funny at times while realistically portraying Petula's struggles. With the death of her sister, Petula has developed rituals to keep herself and her family safe. Maxine's death has taught Petula that life is filled with danger. "Maxine's death had shown me that dangers lurk around every corner. So even if my grief and guilt made it hard for me to get out of bed, I knew I needed to do what I could to keep my parents together and safe. And I had to keep myself safe too...Because I'm it. I'm the only child my parents have left."

Petula's fears are overwhelming and all-encompassing. She hasn't been on a bus or eaten ground beef in two years, she wears mittens to avoid touching public areas with her hands, she plans never to fly, and she won't walk by construction sites. Besides coping with her enormous list of fears, Petula also feels she must be a caretaker to her parents who are also struggling with Maxine's death. Her father is often absent from home and her mother seems obsessed with collecting cats and suffers from depression. Maxine's death has deeply impacted their marriage and despite counseling they seem unable to resolve their issues. This leaves Petula feeling as though she needs to help her parents as they try to maintain some sense of normalcy.

For example when her father complains about how the cats are a priority for Petula's mother rather than the family, Petula quickly intervenes. "I'll clean it up...I vacuumed up all the clumps of cat fur in the living room. I sprayed all surfaces with antibacterial spray and changed the litter boxes. It was part of my strategy: think ahead to things my parents might argue about and try to fix them before they did." On their twentieth wedding anniversary, Petula with the help of Koula, prepares a special evening for her parents, in the hopes that this might help their marriage. Although her parents show much concern for her, it is her relationships with her peers that ultimately help Petula the most.

Nielsen portrays Petula's journey from obsessive fear and guilt towards healing in a gradual and realistic way. Everyone has their part to play in her journey, from her school principal Mr. Watley to Jacob, to Rachel and her companions in YART.  Watley continues to encourage Petula to avoid the triggers for her panic attacks and when necessary pushes her towards involvement in life. Petula's relationship with Jacob and her developing friendships with her peers in YART  help her begin to live again. With Jacob's encouragement, Petula contacts her best friend Rachel in an attempt to reconcile and the two girls begin crafting again. Rachel is patient and allows Petula to gradually come back into her life. Jacob helps Petula confront some of her other fears too.

One of the strengths of Nielsen's novel is the realistic portrayal of her art therapy group YART, which is populated by quirky but believable teens. The YART  teens push Petula to do the things she's avoided for the past two years, such as eating out in restaurants, using public washrooms, and taking public transit.  Eventually Petula's realizes that "Something was shifting in me. I woke up in the mornings and actually looked forward to the day." Petula is even able to visit her friend Rachel and be around her little brother Owen, realizing "This is what I was so afraid of. This little boy."  And she's finally able to look at Maxine's copy of Where the Wild Things Are and cry over Maxine's death.

Confronting her fears allows Petula to help Jacob confront his own. Koula recognizes that Jacob hasn't been honest with the group. "...we've told him a ton. He hasn't told us much at all. It's like we've peeled back all our layers, and he's only peeled back maybe one." Jacob hadn't told Petula or anyone in YART about his past because he was afraid they would see him as "Jacob, the Drunk Driver Who Killed His Friend." However, with encouragement from Petula, she helps Jacob face down his fear and reach out to the friend who survived, Frankie Goorevitch. But before that Petula must forgive Jacob for the lies he's told and for treating her like a charity case just as she has had to forgive herself and realize that Maxine's death was an accident and no fault of hers.

Optimists Die First is filled with the themes of redemption, forgiveness, acceptance and the meaning of friendship. All these themes are woven throughout the novel and extend to almost all the characters. The book takes it's title from Petula's belief that pessimists are the ones who survive because they are constantly wary. Optimists die first because they are incautious. However Jacob points out to her that pessimists live smaller, limited lives but to Petula their lives are safer and longer.

Overall, Optimists Die First is a well written, engaging novel. Very enjoyable, short and to the point.

Book Details:

Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
Toronto: Tundra Books      2017
224 pp.

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin

Sasha Zaichik lives with his father in a one room apartment in a komunalka, a communal apartment. They share a kitchen and toilet with forty-eight Soviet citizens. His father works in the State Security on Lubyanka Square. The State Security is the secret police working to expose and eliminate enemies of the Communist state. Considered one the best, Sasha's father has been given the order of the Red Banner by Stalin. Convinced of the superiority of the Communist state, Sasha wants to join the Young Pioneers, his first step towards following his father. He will finally become a Young Pioneer at a rally to be held the next day. His father has been invited to the ceremony as a guest of honor to tie the scarves of the Young Pioneers.

However, things do not go as planned when one of the residents of their komunalka, Stukachov, reports Sasha's father to the Secret Police and he is taken away in the middle of the night. Sasha is put out into the cold October night after Stukachov and his family immediately take over Sasha and his father's room.

Determined not to miss school and his Young Pioneer ceremony, Sasha shows up the next day convinced that his father will be set free to attend the ceremony. Despite his father's arrest, Sasha remains firmly devoted to the Communist ideals and to his beloved Stalin. But things go from bad to worse when Sasha breaks the nose off of Stalin's statue in the school. This is a serious offense - the damaging of Communist property that is punishable by death.

Terrified, Sasha hides in the washroom only to learn that a fellow classmate has seen him commit the offense. It turns out this classmate is Vovka Sobakin, whose father was executed as a traitor. When Sasha and Vovka return to their class, the teacher attempts to learn who committed the offense by ordering the students to write who they think might be implicated. This of course terrifies the students who have no idea who broke the statue. The teacher warns them that if they do not implicate someone, they themselves will be implicated, setting before them an impossible situation. Sasha watches as students are forced to choose between self-preservation and doing what it right. Within the span of two days, he goes from being unquestionably devoted to the Communist ideals to realizing that they are non-existent. He no longer wants to be a Young Pioneer.

Discussion

In Breaking Stalin's Nose, Eugene Yelchin portrays the paranoia of 1950's Soviet Union and the Great Terror that comprised Joseph Stalin's dictatorship through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy. His pencil drawings help portray some of the main themes this short novel touches on.

Breaking Stalin's Nose provides young readers some idea of what it is like to live under a totalitarian government, where individual freedoms do not matter. Devotion to the state is paramount, but that even that might not be enough. 

Sasha lives in a country in which even children can be killed for the most innocent mistakes, where people are too afraid to speak the truth because it will lead to imprisonment or death, and where paranoia and fear rule every aspect of life. Readers, through Sasha, will be asked to consider the use of propaganda, the role of social responsibility and the functioning of a justice system which uses guilt by association as a means of controlling people.

The author, Eugene Yelchin grew up in the Soviet Union in the 1960's. His father survived the Great Terror and was a devoted Communist Party member. Yelchin left his homeland and now resides in the United States.

Book Details:
Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin
New York: Henry Holt and Company        2011
151 pp.