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.
This book won a Newbery Honor this year. It is a short, pretty intense and depressing book. It was interesting to me as an adult, but I don't see children 4th grade and up really understanding the time in history that the story takes place in - Stalinist USSR. So, I think it will make a great book that teachers can use when covering that time period in history, but I don't think it will be popular for leisure reading for children unless they are a real history buff!
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