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.
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.
就讀小學的沙夏．桑契克對共產主義抱持著樂觀與希望；他對偉大的領袖與精神導師史達林全然信任。然而，史達林卻派人抓走了他的父親。父親被捕後，沙夏堅信父親是冤枉的。雖然姑媽不敢收容他，但他仍舊裝作若無其事的去上學，企盼從學校裡得到支持。但是陰錯陽差，沙夏不小心失手弄斷了史達林雕像的鼻子，成為同學的把柄，且陸續有人知道了他父親被逮的消息。從此，他的地位一落千丈。同時，為了揪出弄斷史達林雕像鼻子的人民公敵，教室的氛圍近乎恐怖。每個孩子為了自保，被迫表態、互告、爭鬥，連最親密的人也無法避免。沙夏開始發覺，他一直知曉與深愛的制度，也許有一天會突然轉向攻擊他。他原本深信父親所說的一切，對於未來寄予無限的美好憧憬，然而在父親被捕後，沙夏的雙眼逐漸張大，終於看到他所處的世界中，那些隱匿在平和假像下的不堪，過去深信不疑的一切，逐漸在他眼前潰塌……
By Eugene Yelchin, Paperback, Traditional Chinese Characters, 238 pages, 8.25"x6.25"
