Chapters 13 and 14 Summary

In Chapter 13, in class, Sasha's desk is near the front where the teacher, Nina Petrovna, sits. The good students are seated in the front. Vovka is in the back in what the kids call Kolyma - named after a region in the country where people are sent for punishment. Vovka used to be an A student but began fall behind and behaving badly. No one knew why. Miss Petrovna announces that Sasha's father will attend the Young Pioneers ceremony and tie the red scarves on everyone. Sasha figures that someone must have told Stalin and that his father had been released.

Miss Petrovna asks Sasha to stand and recite the Laws of the Young Soviet Pioneers. Sasha says, "A young Pioneer is a reliable comrade and always acts according to his conscious." (page 56) The teacher punishes Vovka for mocking Sasha as...