"The Wall: Growing up behind the Iron Curtain" by Peter Sis

Image Courtesy of: http://media.us.macmillan.com/jackets/500H/9780374347017.jpg

Bibliographic Citation

Title: The Wall
Subtitle: Growing up behind the Iron Curtain

Author/Illustrator: Peter Sis

Year of Publication: 2007

Publisher City: New York

Publisher: Frances Foster Books

ISBN-13: 978-0-374-34701-7

Author/Illustrator Website: http://www.petersis.com/index2.html

Media Used for Artwork: Marker, Crayon

2009 Students’ List

Awards

·         American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults

·         New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Books of the Year

·         Parents' Choice Award Winner

·         Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of the Year

·         School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

Annotation

This is the autobiography of Peter Sis, the author/illustrator.  It specifically emphasizes on his life growing up in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War with strong emphasis on the images to tell the story. 

Personal Reaction

The bulk of “The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain” is the drawings by Peter Sis, with the addition of personal journal entries.  The reader is bombarded by the images of Sis’s childhood, with only a few words telling the story.  But as the reader looks at the images individually it becomes clear that the story is being told through them.  Whoever decides to read this book should do so several times so that the many levels can be appreciated individually.

The most important level of the book is the pictures.  The images show action and convey emotion.  Most of the drawings are black and white with touches of color. At the beginning of the story red in the dominate color added to the black and white images.  The addition of the red is an allusion the color worn by Communists during the Cold War era.  As the narrator becomes aware of the many wrongs that himself and his people have endured with living behind the Iron Curtain the images begin to change.  The narrator finds hope through his drawings and as he matures more color is added, not just the red that dominated the pictures at the beginning of the book.  At one point the main character of the story uses the colors that he surrounds himself with as wings to escape the life he had lived.  One of my favorite examples of the use of color in the pictures is when the narrator and his friends constantly repaint the wall near the end of the book.  Each time bright color is used and the blank canvas allows new art to be introduced.  The painters continue to have dreams and continue to find new ways to show it on the wall.

It is clear from the beginning that Sis wants to convey his childhood in Czechoslovakia.  Besides the pictures that visually show his life there are the few words that are used.  Historical facts are mentioned briefly, because though they are important it is not as important as Sis’s story.  The journal entries that separate the sections of the book are meant to prepare a mature reader for the story that will be conveyed through the pictures.  It also shows how the narrator’s view of his world changes as he ages.

The journal entries and the images work together in this book to convey the story of the narrator’s childhood.  One cannot stand alone from the other.  The pictures show the narrator’s life and the journal entries and historical facts provided settles the story in a specific environment.  The reader never forgets that this story is about life behind the Iron Curtain.

Older readers can relate to this picture book for the fact that as they grow up their perception of the world changes.  Things that were thought of as good as a child are often times seen as bad as an adult. 

Besides the reader being able to relate to the narrator, this book will be a good addition to classroom.  In California, tenth graders are taught about the effects of post-World War II in their World History classes. This picture book can provide a personal account of what students are taught during this part of the semester.  Sis mentions historical dates, which students will also be learning about.  By understanding what life was like for a child in this era, high school students can come to understand the importance of the dates and facts being taught to them.  Sis’s biography makes what occurred real, not just facts listed in a textbook to be remembered for a test.