Genre 4 - Nonfiction - The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

1. Bibliography
Sis, Peter. 2007. The Wall: growing up behind the iron curtain. New York: Francis Foster Books. ISBN 9780374347017

2. Plot Summary
This book is a powerful first hand account told through cartoon-like drawings, photographs, text, and personal journal entries of what it was like growing up in Communist Prague, Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. Sis tells his own experiences from his childhood through teenage years of his own support and later rebellion against the Communist Soviet government. This picture book/graphic novel/autobiography/history book creates a genre all its own. An introduction and an afterward help put the events into context for readers to understand more about the incidents depicted in the book.

3. Analysis
The unassuming cartoon drawing of the baby Peter Sis on the first page of the book with the text, "As long as he could remember, he loved to draw" surrounded by the definitions of Iron Curtain, Cold War, and Communism demonstrate right away that this is no ordinary picture book. The juxtaposition of cartoon drawings in black and white with red, to symbolize the pervasiveness of the Communist government, fill the pages of this remarkable true story. The drawings effectively convey Sis's love of art and the darkness of the stifling government of the time. Sis's use of his own journal entries throughout the book are a nice addition in relaying his own experiences about the situations surrounding him. As a child he was brainwashed and oblivious. The drawings are all black and white with red. As he becomes a teenager, and "found out there were things he wasn't told," some of the drawings contain full color to depict his personal awakening as well as the Prague Spring of 1968.

Another addition to the artwork is the inclusion of little pig faced secret police in almost every drawing. Perhaps the most powerful piece of art in the book is the image of Sis's dream of freedom. This illustration depicts the Eastern Bloc on one side of a wall with adjectives such as "terror"and "injustice" and the Western Bloc on the other with adjectives such as "truth" and "liberty" as Peter flies across the wall on a winged bicycle.

Middle school and high school English, art, or history classes can all benefit from reading this book. Not that younger children should not read this book, it may be just a little too sophisticated for them to fully appreciate. I was impressed by this wonderfully personal account of Cold War-era Prague.

4. Review Excerpts

Booklist Starred Review - "the author pairs his remarkable artistry with journal entries, historical context and period photography to create a powerful account of his childhood in Cold War–era Prague."

New York Times - "The ecstatic energy and big-spirited inventiveness of the artist’s drawings make the once all but unimaginable realization of that dream visible for all to see."

Kirkus Reviews - "A masterpiece for readers young and old."

5. Connections
*Students can listen to an interview with Peter Sis about his book, The Wall.
http://www.bookexpocast.com/authors-studio/2007/the-wall-by-peter-sis/

*Students can create a graphic novel type interpretation of a historical event for a history or art class.

*Students can be encouraged to read more historical literature about the Cold War.