Extras

Arcady’s Goal audio book excerpt (1 min)

Honors

• New York Times Book Review’s Notable Children’s Book of 2014

• Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature 2014 Best Children’s Books of the Year

• Junior Library Guild Selection Book, Fall 2014

• Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Notable Book 2015

• International Reading Association (IRA) Notable Book 2015

• Booklist’s Notable Books of 2015

• Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award 2017

Translations

Italian, Japanese, Chinese

Exhibitions

The illustrations for the book were on view at the Original Art exhibition and catalogue at the Society of Illustrators in New York. 2014-2015

Interviews

"Let's Get Busy" Podcast with Matthew Winner of the Busy Librarian

Kirkus

Arcady's Goal Blog Tour 2014

• Kid Lit Frenzy
• Eat the Book
• Watch. Connect. Read
• Read, Write, Reflect
• Librarian in Cute Shoes
• The Busy Librarian

Reviews

“In ARCADY’S GOAL, an immensely rewarding novel by Eugene Yelchin… the pages have the ring of truth. Something vital is at stake. You can feel it. The language is taught and dramatic. The illustrations are moody, stark and beautiful. The book is tough to read in anything but a single sitting. And sly, in the way of great literature…”

—The New York Times Book Review

“What may seem like a quiet story told in sparse language, illustrated with perfect pencil and charcoal art by the author, ARCADY'S GOAL is a triumph of storytelling. To have this bit of history recounted so personally – with humor and truth and perfect details – is a gift to young readers.”

—Christian Science Monitor

“While there may be enough soccer here to lure the sports enthusiast, it is the emotional power of the tale that captures the reader’s heart.”

—Horn Book

“This swiftly moving, lucid novel tells an affecting tale… notable is the masterful twist of the expected sports cliché of prizing the team over the individual, as Arcady’s naive yearning to stand out as a great soccer player butts up against Ivan’s pained understanding of Soviet expectations for conformity.”

—Booklist

“An uplifting, believable ending makes this companion lighter—but no less affecting—than its laurelled predecessor.”

—Kirkus

“Yelchin’s b&w drawings, add emotional depth and amplify the plot; ample soccer detail makes this a winner for fans of the sport.”

—Publisher’s Weekly

"The subtext of this deceptively simple work challenges readers to look beyond the characters’ situation and consider the historical implications of their dilemmas."

—The Bulletin Of The Center For Children's Books

“Yelchin’s latest features quick and easy chapters, stimulating, true-to-life characters, and beautiful, mood-setting illustrations.”

—School Library Journal

“…a sparse book that carries great weight. Both haunting and laugh-out-loud funny, ARCADY’S GOAL will score big with readers.”

—BookPage

“Books like this are so important because they tell us about the human cost of political repression. I see ARCADY’S GOAL becoming another mainstay of our classroom library, another classroom favorite.”

—A Teaching Life

“Yelchin's ability to write with emotion and genuineness makes these must have's for the classroom.”

—Kid Lit Frenzy

"Arcady's narration walks us steadily through, and his honest voices places readers right in the middle of the time period as well as his struggles This novel is a gripping, fast read, and Yelchin's illustrations guide you along and you won't be able to stop looking at them. It is heartbreaking to read, written with the literary power that Newbery-winning authors have at their ready."

—Librarian in Cute Shoes

“Yelchin's tale ... is a fast-paced blend of sports and history. Arcady's emotions ring out on every page and bring the story to life, enhanced further by Yelchin's illustrations. A perfect story for soccer fans, fathers and sons, and history lovers.”

—Shelf Awareness

“A well-told story that respects its readers and doesn’t shy away from difficult material, while delivering a positive, hopeful message. Aimed at kids age 9 to 12, ARCADY’S GOAL will hold the interest of older readers and elicit much discussion.”

—Jewish Independent

“Arcady's feelings of confusion and anger throughout the book are heart tugging. My only complaint is that I didn’t want the book to end. I felt the need to stay with Arcady awhile longer. Check this one out, my friends, you don’t want to miss it.”

—Read. Write. Reflect

“Eugene Yelchin has become a literal and visual prose poet of damaged youth in the Stalin era. A powerful writer and a brilliant illustrator who tells his stories simultaneously in words and images returns with another beautifully told story of grim times in the U.S.S.R. (his) theme— damaged threads of torn-apart families, somehow weaving themselves into new families, even in the face of the paranoid horrors of the Stalin regime.”

—Regarding Arts

"Writing style in this book is stark and unadorned, like the subject. The descriptions, like the illustrations, are gray and without much hope, although Arcady’s courage and tenacity shine through even in the soccer games he plays so well."

—Semicolon