Breaking Stalin's Nose

Breaking Stalin’s Nose is a 2011 early middle-grade historical fiction novel set in the Soviet Union during Stalin’s reign. The book is written and illustrated by Russian American author Eugene Yelchin who is known for his explorations of Soviet and post-Soviet identity. The novel is dedicated to his father, “who survived the Great Purge,” a testament to the author’s proximity to the turmoil described in the story. The novel follows the fictional Sasha Zaichik, a 10-year-old boy who lives in Moscow during Stalin’s time in power. Themes of disillusionment, loss, and broken identities are explored in the work. The novel is a Newbery Honor Award winner, and winner of Washington Post’s Best Children’s Book of the Year, among other accolades.

This guide refers to the 2011 Square Fish edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide refer to violent repression and antisemitism.

Plot Summary

Sasha Zaichik is a 10-year-old boy in the Soviet Union who, on the eve of becoming a Young Pioneer, pens a passionate letter to Joseph Stalin. The next day will be the most important day of Sasha’s life, as his father, a well-known and respected member of the State Security, will personally tie the red bandana of the Young Pioneers around his neck at the induction ceremony.

However, that night, State Security officers haul Sasha’s father away. A jealous neighbor who coveted their large room in the communal apartment reported him. Before Sasha’s father is out of sight, the neighbor takes their room and tosses their belongings into the corridor. Sasha goes to his Aunt Larisa’s house, but her husband turns him away for fear they’ll be arrested as well. Sasha sleeps on a pile of newspapers and goes to school first thing in the morning.

The majority of the narrative describes Sasha’s day at school after his father’s arrest. In the schoolyard before class, he is called Amerikanetz by his former best friend, Vovka, because Sasha’s mother was American. Vovka urges Sasha to throw a snowball at a Jewish boy named Borka, which he reluctantly does. This breaks the boy’s glasses. In class, Borka refuses to say who broke his glasses, and the teacher, Nina Petrovna, blames Vovka because he is a poor student and a troublemaker. Petrovna sends Borka to the principal’s office and awards Sasha the honor of carrying the banner in the afternoon’s Young Pioneer ceremony.

Petrovna sends Sasha to collect the banner and he runs into Borka, who says he must find a way into Lubyanka prison to see his parents. Borka believes his parents are alive, though his aunt said they were executed. The boy pleads with Sasha to ask his father to sneak Borka into the prison to see his parents. Sasha retrieves the banner from the supply closet and goes to the hall, where he loses himself in a daydream in which he meets Stalin atop a float and tells his beloved leader that the Security Service officers arrested his father by mistake. In the patriotic fervor of the daydream, Sasha marches around the hall with the banner held high. The parade image fades away just as the tip of the banner strikes a statue of Stalin and breaks off the nose.

Sasha hides in the bathroom where Vovka, who claims to have seen everything, confronts him. Vovka pulls the statue’s nose out of his pocket and threatens to turn Sasha in. Back in the classroom, Teacher Petrovna knows about the broken statue and instructs the students to inform on their classmates. The principal calls for the students to gather in the assembly hall.

The principal demands that the anti-communist terrorist who broke the statue confess as the same lieutenant who arrested Sasha’s father enters the hall and seconds the principal’s demand. Borka raises his hand, and the Security Service officers haul him away. He winks at Sasha as they pass. Sasha realizes Borka found his way into Lubyanka prison to see his parents.

In the classroom, Teacher Petrovna scratches Borka’s face out of the class photo and then says there is another child of an enemy of the state in the room. She points at Vovka, who leaps from his chair and tries to strangle the teacher. Sasha attempts to break them apart and soon finds himself in the principal’s office. The principal says he knows Security Service officers arrested Sasha’s father and he chastises Sasha for not renouncing his father as a criminal immediately upon his arrival at school. The news shocks Vovka. The principal also says he knows Vovka’s father was executed, and that they are both the children of criminals of the state. Vovka says he knows who broke Stalin’s nose. The principal sends Sasha away before Vovka reveals the culprit.

In the hall on his way back to class, Sasha hears a literature teacher discuss the famous Russian short story The Nose, in which a sentient nose wears a uniform and people treat it like a person. Sasha attempts to escape the school but finds himself locked in the biology lab. A talking nose dressed as Stalin speaks to him, and he passes out.

The janitor finds Sasha, throws water on him to wake him, and sends him back to class. Everyone now knows about his father’s arrest and Teacher Petrovna seats him in the back in “Kolyma” where Vovka sits. Teacher Petrovna asks who will carry the banner now that Sasha is unworthy. Angry, Sasha grabs the banner and jumps onto her desk. He sings a Soviet tune and leaps from desk to desk. She tackles him just as the State Security officers arrive with Vovka. Sasha knows Vovka will now report him as the real vandal and criminal. Instead, Vovka points at Teacher Petrovna, and her desk is searched. They find Stalin’s nose in a drawer and haul her away.

The principal leads Sasha to a dim storage room and locks him inside with the lieutenant who arrested his father the night before. The lieutenant reads the letter Sasha wrote to Stalin, which he found in Zaichik’s briefcase, then offers Sasha a choice: inform on his classmates and teachers or go to prison as a traitor like his father. Sasha agrees to spy for the secret police.

In return for agreeing to spy, the police give Sasha the honor of carrying the banner in the Young Pioneer ceremony. This is everything he ever wanted, the culmination of all his efforts. As he stands outside the hall and listens to the drums, Sasha realizes he no longer wants to be a Pioneer. He escapes from the school and rushes to Lubyanka prison. He finds a line that contains thousands of people who wait for days to see their loved ones. A woman in line offers him food and warm clothing and promises to take him in with her. Together they wait to see what will happen when they reach the front of the line, and what will happen to Russia under Stalin’s reign.