The Genius Under the Table

Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

The Genius Under the Table
Eugene Yelchin
Our Price:
NZ$ 29.99
Hardback
h210 x 152mm - 208pg
12 Oct 2021 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9781536215526
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
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.
The self-effacing narrative seamlessly blends in Cold War history, Soviet politics, and loving family interchanges, and Yelchin' s sly illustrations appear on almost every page. There' s not a lot of material about this time period, and this humorous, informative, and engaging memoir will keep readers entertained. -Booklist (starred review) This memoir of [Yelchin' s] adolescence is a forthright, darkly humorous and indelible portrait of an artist emerging. . . Yelchin, wonderfully, allows his text and pictures to interrupt each other with glee, reminding us how life begets art. It certainly does here. -The Horn Book (starred review) Yelchin delivers a darkly humorous slice-of-life account of growing up in the Soviet Union. . . . Humorous, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In this frank, engaging memoir, Yelchin (Spy Runner) recounts his childhood in the U. S. S. R. as his boyhood self, Yevgeny, perceives and ponders it. . . . At once comical and disquieting, the book is an illuminating introduction to a young life in the former Soviet Union. -Publishers Weekly (starred review) The multitalented author/illustrator here turns his lens on his own life as a child in Soviet Russia during the 1960s and ' 70s. . . . with any luck Yelchin will follow this with a second autobiographical volume. -The Bulletin of the Center for Children' s Books (starred review) Yelchin has created an unforgettable portrayal of one family' s experiences living in the Soviet Union during the Cold War in his ingenious memoir. . . . Recommended for those who love captivating memoirs mixed with humor. -School Library Journal (starred review) Author Eugene Yelchin gives readers an honest look at what his life was like growing up in Soviet Russia. . . . I believe this book definitely should be included in upper elementary and middle school libraries. -School Library Connection ' The Genius Under the Table' is Eugene Yelchin' s idiosyncratic illustrated memoir of boyhood behind the Iron Curtain, a chronicle that manages to amuse with its quirky details and disturb with the broad picture it paints of life under communism. . . wry and humorous artwork adds to the levity. -The Wall Street Journal With the same deadpan, comic style he used to great effect in 2011 children' s novel ' Breaking Stalin' s Nose,' author-illustrator Eugene Yelchin offers a poignant memoir of growing up in the Soviet Union. -The Buffalo News Eugene Yelchin' s new memoir, The Genius Under the Table, is an extraordinary work of memory told with clear-sightedness and ironic good humor, both disguising a great deal of pathos. This book is a recipe for survival for us all in a world growing tougher by the day. -David Small, Caldecott Medal winner and National Book Award Finalist for Stitches I read Eugene Yelchin' s sad, funny memoir with tears and laughter. It is told with such exquisite humor and illustrated with such wonderful, biting drawings that, in spite of its darkness, I savored every word and every picture. A treat. -Uri Shulevitz, winner of the Caldecott Medal and three Caldecott Honors Eugene Yelchin' s illustrated memoir is shaping up to be one of the most celebrated books of the season. And with good reason - It' s funny, surprising, and heart-wrenching. -100 Scope Notes
Eugene Yelchinis the co-author and illustrator of the 2018 National Book Award Finalist The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, co-written with M. T. Anderson. A Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award Winner, he also received a Newbery Honor for his novel Breaking Stalin' s Nose. Born in Leningrad, Russian-American Eugene Yelchin now lives in Topanga, California, with his family.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781536215526
Published: 12 Oct 2021
Published In: United States
Imprint: Candlewick Press US
Publisher: Candlewick Press (US)
Format: Hardback
Height: 210mm
Width: 152mm
Pages: 208

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