Alyosha Kuznetsov, a fifteen-year-old Moscow boy and his elder sister, Lena were members of a mobile first-aid group – a ‘flying squad’ during the October Revolution in Russia in 1917.
The boy was never in one spot for long. Alyosha always hastened to the most dangerous places – the barricades manned by volunteers fighting the Tsar’s White Guards. Not everyone at the barricades even knew his proper name. They just called him ‘Kuznechik’ – Grasshopper – a pun on his surname, Kuznetsov. The boy actually did appear to make flying leaps from one barricade to another, so quickly did he get around.Oleg Tikhomirov’s Grasshopper: The Little Soldier is the real life story of Alyosha Kuznetsov – a poignant story of growing up, of friendship, determination, of war and of life at one of the most trying times in Russia.