Picture Book 1: The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Robert F. Sibert)

Author: Peter Sis

Illustrator: Peter Sis

Genre: Picture Book

Subgenre: Autobiography, Partial Graphic Novel

Themes: Totalitarianism vs. Freedom; Resistance against hostile regimes; wars fought with culture; power, authority, and governance; development of thought from total belief to questioning authority; music and art as mediums for self-expression

Characters: 

     Primary: Peter Sis

     Secondary: parents,secret police

Awards: 
~2007 New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated

 Book of the Year
~2008 Caldecott Honor Book

~2008 Bank Street- Best Children's Book of the Year

~Nominee for the 2008 Eisner Award for Best

 Publication for Kids

Date of Publication: August 21, 2007

Publishing Company: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary:

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain is an account of the author's childhood in Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia.  While Peter Sis was allowed to draw whatever he wanted in the safety of his home, in the outside world he must conform to the demands of the communist government.  The book moves through the author's life, from his time as a small child, the years of brainwashing in school, and the hope of freedom brought on by the Prague Spring of 1968. The author combines story boards, doublespreads, captions, journal entries to keep readers constantly engaged and to convey the stifling of ideas and freedoms under Soviet rule.  Students will enjoy the way the book uses art to set the tone. Under oppression, gray, white, and black are interspersed with the red of communism.  This drabness counters the bright colors and whimsy of the Prague Spring. Older students will be particularly spellbound by the photographs and graphic art surrounding the journal entries. 

Recommendation: I highly recommend this book for use with students ages nine to twelve. It can be used in several ways in the classroom.  Teachers could use this book to discuss the differences between communism and capitalism, to illustrate the history of the Eastern Block, to provide examples of graphic art and autobiography, and to talk about the ideas of freedom, self-expression, authoritarianism, and brainwashing.