The Family Romanov

Fleming, C. (2014). The family Romanov: Murder, rebellion & the fall of Imperial Russia. New York, NY:  Schwartz & Wade/ Random House.

2015 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
2015 YALSA Excellence in Non-Fiction Finalist

The Romanov family and their deaths have long been a topic of debate and mystery.  Why was a royal family so easily murdered?  Did the youngest two children manage to survive? Was Rasputin to blame or the cause of their deaths?  These questions and more have often surrounded the Romanov Family, despite science's proven answers.  In her biography Candace Fleming answers all of these questions and more.  Readers follow not only the chosen Romanov family from Nicholas II's ascent to the throne to their death but also the common man's plight in a very poor and suffering Russia.  Readers learn about worker's strikes, starving families with pathetic wages and working conditions.  A war is blooming on the horizon- none of these things did Nicholas or his wife Alexandra face head on. They preferred to spend time secluded with each other and their five children.  Alexandra's reliance on the mysterious holy man Rasputin does nothing to calm rumors that she is bad news for Mother Russia.  Conditions eventually rise to a boiling point at which time the Tsar and his family are taken prisoner, led away from prying eyes, brutally shot and murdered (even the family dog), and buried in unmarked graves in the woods only to be found decades later.

Beyond being a great read The Family Romanov is an excellent addition to any unit on World War I.  The book has over 50 pages of pictures and graphics including a family tree for both Nicholas and Alexandra.  Biography lessons would benefit from this inclusion as well.  To further get your students' interest going there is a book trailer below.