Here in this book ["Struggle Is Our Brother"], the first we have had for young people about beleaguered Russia, is made plain the spirit and the will which have turned back the tide of war against the aggressors. It is the story of a young Cossack, not too concerned with ideology,… who was orphaned and made homeless by one of the first German bombs….

His story doesn't approach literature in the permanent sense, but it presents in individual terms the stark, indomitable courage in that heroic struggle to save civilization, and for that may well be read by every young American.

Ellen Lewis Buell, "New Books for Younger Readers: 'Struggle Is Our Brother'," in The New York Times Book Review (© 1943 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), February 21, 1943, p. 12.