Arcady's Goal by Eugene Yelchin - - ADVISABLE

Yelchin, Eugene Arcady's Goal, 234 pgs. Henry Holt and Company, 2014. $15.99.  Language: G (1 swear); Violence: G; Mature Content: G.  

Arcady is the best soccer player in the orphanage.  He's a good boy and always shares his rations with the boy he beats.  His life is about to change. When Ivan Ivanych, an inspector of the children’s homes, adopts Arcady and takes him home, Arcady hopes he’ll have a chance to reach his goal - - to play for the Red Army Soccer team! But can a child of an “enemy of the state” ever hope to be a regular boy?  

The author of the Newbery Honor book “Breaking Stalin’s Nose” brings us another story of a child affected by the Stalin Regime.  Beautifully written, gripping, sad yet hopeful, this illustrated children’s piece give readers a taste of what life was like in pre-WWII Russia.  

EL MS ADVISABLE  Lisa Librarian