“Yelchin skillfully combines narrative with dramatic black-and-white illustrations to tell the story of life in the Soviet Union under Stalin. “Yelchin's graphite illustrations are an effective complement to his prose, which unfurls in Sasha's steady, first-person voice, and together they tell an important tale.” - Kirkus Reviews Appropriately menacing illustrations by first-time novelist Yelchin add a sinister tone.” - The Horn Book, starred review “* This brief novel gets at the heart of a society that asks its citizens, even its children, to report on relatives and friends. “Picture book author/illustrator Yelchin makes an impressive middle-grade debut with this compact novel about a devoted young Communist in Stalin-era Russia, illustrated with dramatically lit spot art.” - Publishers Weekly “The cat-and-mouse chase that pits Sasha's whole world against him will rivet middle-grade readers, but this title will hold special appeal for older students whose grasp of content outstrips their reading proficiency.” - BCCB This Newbery Honor book offers timeless lessons about dictatorship, disillusionment and personal choice.” - San Francisco Chronicle And worst of all, his father, the best Communist. He accidentally damages a bust of Stalin in the school hallway. He breaks a classmates glasses with a snowball. 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. Black-and-white drawings march across the pages to juxtapose hope and fear, truth and tyranny, small moments and historical forces, innocence and evil. A Young Pioneer has a right to criticize shortcomings. “A miracle of brevity, this affecting novel zeroes in on two days and one boy to personalize Stalin's killing machine of the '30s. Yelchin has compressed into two days of events an entire epoch, giving young readers a glimpse of the precariousness of life in a capricious yet ever-watchful totalitarian state.” - Wall Street Journal
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