MIDDLE GRADE NONFICTION (2022 CYBILS FINALIST): The Genius Under the Table by Eugene Yelchin
ABOUT THE BOOK
With a masterful mix of comic timing and disarming poignancy, Newbery Honoree Eugene Yelchin offers a memoir of growing up in Cold War Russia.
Drama, family secrets, and a KGB spy in his own kitchen! How will Yevgeny ever fulfill his parents' dream that he become a national hero when he doesn't even have his own room? He's not a star athlete or a legendary ballet dancer. In the tiny apartment he shares with his Baryshnikov-obsessed mother, poetry-loving father, continually outraged grandmother, and safely talented brother, all Yevgeny has is his little pencil, the underside of a massive table, and the doodles that could change everything. With equal amounts charm and solemnity, award-winning author and artist Eugene Yelchin recounts in hilarious detail his childhood in Cold War Russia as a young boy desperate to understand his place in his family.
REVIEW
The Genius Under the Table tells of the author's experiences growing up in Cold War Russia. From the very beginning, Yelchin pulled me in with his stories of how life appeared to him as a child growing up in the Soviet Union. Some of his shared memories are funny, such as his visit to see Lenin in his mausoleum where the main thing he notices is the bandage under his chin. Other memories are sad and heart-wrenching as the reader empathizes with his confusion with his parents' constant emphasis on having a talent. I especially appreciated the fact that these stories are shared from a child's point of view. A child reader will relate to Yevgeny's frustration and confusion over his mother's obsession with the famous ballet dancer Baryshnikov and his father's references to dead poets. His efforts to draw lead him to swipe his father's sole pencil so he can draw on the bottom of the family table at night when he is supposed to be sleeping. Yelchin's amazing story-telling presents readers with a powerful look at family and country and the dangers and fears that tyranny brings. This book is so readable and relatable. Yelchin's line drawings add a great deal to understanding his family and life. This stunning book is both empathy-inducing and eye-opening. Highly, highly recommended.
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