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“Author: Peter Sis
Nelle K wrote this review 10 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Illustrator: Peter Sis
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Award: Calcedott Honor
This wonderful book manages to be both creative and insightful, documenting life behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War in words and graphic design. Peter Sis's use of color in his illustrations highlights and enhances the matter-of-fact language of his text. He has managed to create a journal, biography, and social/historical commentary that is fascinating reading for older children and adults alike, though this book would be most suitable in the education setting for 6th graders and up.
Uses:
-History: Cold War, Iron Curtain, world influences like The Beatles, geography
-Music: The Beatles- drawing how the music makes you feel, how they are associated with color in this book
-Language Arts: illustrations compared to text, how to write in graphics form, writing biographies and journals”
“Peter Sis's illustrated autobiography contains detailed information about Soviet control in the East (particularly Czechoslovkia) and its effect on children and families. The policies imposed had a profound effect on Sis' life and how he could express himself. The black and white drawing with Soviet red accents represents the dreary Czechoslovakia and the bright wild free paintings are Sis's dreams of the Western World with the Beatles and Beach Boys. It is a wonderful narrative about the censure of growing up beyond the wall. ”
Betsy M wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Peter Sis tells his story of growing up in Communist Czechoslovakia.”
Kyle K wrote this review Sunday, October 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Title: The Wall
J Holland wrote this review Friday, August 7 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Author: Peter Sis
Illustrator: Peter Sis
Publisher: Frances Foster Books, NY
Copyright: 2007
Number of Pages: 48
Target Population: Elementary +
Reading List: Nonfiction (Caldecott Honor)
Synopsis / Summary: Peter Sis was born in Czechoslovakia and was raised in Prague during the Cold War. The Wall tells the story of his growing up in an oppressive Communist regime, which was all the more oppressive to a young artist who yearned for the freedom to create. He tells of his indoctrination in school and the Young Pioneers, the taste of freedom he experienced in the spring of 1968 and his defection to the US in 1984. It
Critical Comments: Peter Sis intersperses translated excerpts from his journals with his detailed drawings of life behind the iron curtain. His use of color among the black line drawings is especially well done, with red symbolizing the stifling influence of Communism and bright colors standing for Western influence and freedom. The secret police are shown lurking on almost every page, not-so-subtly drawn as pigs in uniform. For today’s children, who have never known a world divided by the Cold War, Sis’s book offers a detailed, moving description of life behind the Iron Curtain. It would be very useful in a unit about Communism and the Cold War, but would not stand on its own as more than an introduction to the subject.
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“The Wall is one of my favorite books. This reminds people of suppression and the importance of personal freedoms. Peter Sis did an excellent job of eplaining life behind the iron curtain. The picture details add to the text of the story. If you ever wanted to know more about government control and the peoples reaction to it, this is the book to read. He won a Caldecott medal for this book and it is well deserved, This is a book with meaning and will impact future generation to remember the importance of liberties.”
mary s wrote this review Thursday, August 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Peter Sis's life, growing up as an artist behind the Iron Curtain. The trait in human nature to want to control others will never cease to amaze and scare me.”
Stan W wrote this review Saturday, July 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The author tells of his life growing up behind the Iron Curtain and the Berlin wall during Communism. ”
Alyssa M wrote this review Monday, April 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This was a cool book. It could be read as a picture book and a graphic novel. I was a little surprised to see that it's a Caldecott winner. I would have put this book on the Rebecca Caudill list instead.”
Cullengirl l wrote this review Saturday, December 6 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
Agnes W wrote this review Saturday, November 29 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
By Peter Sis
Farr, Straus and Giroux, 2007 (56 pages)
Non-Fiction Book/Award Winner
Caldecott Honor Book
Ages 11 and up
In this autobiographical story, a young artist is coming of age in Cold War time Czechoslovakia, when Soviet political repression controls all aspects of human life.
In this nonfiction work the author depicts his life story in a series of mostly black and white sketch-like drawings. The bright red elements embedded within the compositions illuminate the red Soviet symbols of flags, stars, scarves as well as the hammer and sickle icons. The artist perseveres largely through his love of artistic expression. His childhood drawings are full of vibrant emotions displayed in bright colors, in contrast to the rest of the illustrations, showing the gray of everyday life. He rebels by playing and listening to rock music, going to see a Beach Boys concert and dreaming of being free. Later in life, faced with censorship and political oppression the author finds refuge in the United States.
The book is full of personal touches like family pictures, journal entries, and drawings done by the artist as he was maturing into a young man. The comic strip is used as the main storytelling device, weaving together all the diverse mixed media compositions. For this very reason, young readers will enjoy this contextually rich work, with a strong biographical point of view, in a familiar and accessible graphic novel format. Readers will learn about this artist’s life, about the history of the Cold War in Czechoslovakia, and about what it means to be an artist in a politically repressive world.
The Booklist review highlights: ”younger readers may lose interest as the story moves past his childhood” which is an important characteristic of the book. Overall, I would say it could appeal to any age group starting with early teen since the book spans from childhood into adulthood.
The New York Times Book Review points out two major flaws in how the author portrays the historical content in the book. The first criticism states: “Compressing history into fable can confuse matters.” I agree with this statement since there is a great omission of other factors that brought the Berlin Wall down. The other is a question criticizing the work posed here: “What if in fact the wall served the governments’ purposes on both sides equally well?” This is the major problem I saw with the book when reading it for the first time. The book is very much one-sided in the way it describes the political and historical contexts of why the Wall was put in place.
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“This book was fascinating. The part I liked the best was when he talked about his fascination with the West and rock music. I would recommend this book as a very good way for students to understand what it is like to grow up in country that curtails people's freedoms. I would give it 5 stars.”
Beverley R wrote this review Saturday, September 20 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
