The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
written and illustrated by Peter Sis, 2007, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers. (0374347018).

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

Media: pen and ink, with water color, colored pencils and multimedia elements

Awards and Honors: American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults; American Library Association Notable Children's Books; Caldecott Honor Book; IRA Notable Books for a Global Society; Boston Globe - Horn Book Award; New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Books of the Year; Orbis Pictus; Amazon.com Top 10 Editors’ Picks: Children; Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year; CCBC Choice (Univ. of WI); Children's Books: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, New York Public Library; Eisner Award Nominee; Parents' Choice Award Winner; NCSS-CBC Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies; Booklinks Lasting Connection; Booklist Editors' Choice; Booklist Top 10 Biographies for Youth; Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Award; Horn Book Magazine Fanfare List; Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice; Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of the Year; School Library Journal Best Books of the Year; VOYA's Nonfiction Honor List; Robert F. Sibert Award - Medal; Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens; Illinois Read for a Lifetime Award Master List; Michigan Great Lakes Great Books Award Master List; New Mexico Battle of the Books Master List; North Dakota Flicker Tale Children's Award Master List; Utah Beehive Book Award Master List; Book Links; Booklist; Booklist, Starred; Top 10 Biographies for Youth; Boston Globe; Bulletin-Center Child Books, Starred; Horn Book, Starred Review; Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review; Los Angeles Times; New York Times Book Review; Publishers Weekly, Starred; San Francisco Chronicle; School Library Journal, Starred Review; USA Today; VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)

Annotation: Peter Sis' illustrated memoir of what life was like growing up behind the Iron Curtain.

Personal Reaction/ Discussion of Artwork:
     Peter Sis was born in Czechoslovakia after World War II and grew up in Prague during the Cold War. This book is his attempt to explain to his children his life before he came to America. In The Wall, we hear his story, which is the story of many others who grew up under totalitarianism yet yearned to be free. An artist from a very young age, Sis felt the restrictions of Communist rule acutely. He tells of his childhood and adolescence- happy but never free of the ever-present influence of Communism. Russian language classes, public displays of loyalty and participation in the Communist youth movement are all compulsory activities for young Sis and his classmates. Initially he doesn't question the system, but as he gets older bits of Western news and media start to slip through the Iron Curtain. With this new information young people begin to question the old ways of doing things. In 1968, as Peter is entering young adulthood, Alexander Dubcek begins to ease the government's strict censorship policies and Peter's dream of freedom starts to seem possible. Art, travel, poetry, music, film and theater are burgeoning and Peter sees these methods of self-expression as ways to be free. Out of fear of losing control, the State soon cracks down on expression. Sis describes the fear and intimidation that ensues as dissidents are jailed, monitored, deported and tortured. Even under the intense oppression Peter continues to create and dares to dream of freedom. Peter leaves the Soviet Union in 1984 to go to the United States for work and doesn't return. 
    
    Through a combination of words, pictures, diary entries and scrap book style collages, Sis tells his story. Sis' cartoon-like drawings are deceptively simple. He uses multiple frames on most pages to show scenes of life in Soviet Prague. Color is symbolic in his illustrations. Scenes of life in the Soviet Union are rendered starkly in black and white pen drawings with brash dashes of red. Sis uses accents of full color to represent freedom. Peter's own drawings and other forms of self-expression, as well as all references to Western pop culture appear as bright, colorful spots in a sea of monochrome.
    
    The Wall is a wondeful introduction to a complex and often confusing piece of history for children. Sis shares his personal experience in easily relatable language and images. Upper elementary students will gain from this book a better understanding of what life was like for children growing up in the Soviet Union. 

Curriculum Connection: Upper Elementary or Middle School, Social Studies, Cold War

Lesson Plan:

Subject Area:             
History

Suggested Grade Level:     
6-8

Lesson Title:             
Growing Up During the Cold War: Us vs. Them (adapted from http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/The-Wall-Sis-ideas.html)

Time:                 
3-4 hours

Materials/Equipment Required: 
-The Wall by Peter Sis
-timelines (http://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/The-Wall-timeline.html)
- pencils

Objectives: 
Students will familiarize themselves with events in history during the Cold War and compare and contrast the contrasts of lifestyles for people on either side of the Iron Curtain.

Suggested Procedure:          

1.    Students will carefully read The Wall by Peter Sis.

2.    Give the students the timelines and as a class brainstorm events that happened in the author’s life during the time and events that happened in the Soviet Union at that time

3.    Students will then choose the 20 best for each category and on the top half of the paper (above the big black timeline bar), write:
- above the thin black top line--10 events that took place in the author's life at that time   
- below the thin black top line--10 events that took place in the Soviet region at that time

4.  Once the top part is done, for homework have the student interview someone they know (neighbor, grandparent...) who was born in the US in the 1940s or 1950s, asking him or her for memories of what they were doing during each era and memories of what was happening in the United State during that time. Encourage the student to ask questions of the interviewee to see if he or she felt the same way about living in the United States that the author did about living in the Soviet realm. (ie: "Did you feel free to listen to whatever music you wanted?", “Did you feel free to travel?”)

5. On the bottom half of the paper (below the big black timeline bar), write:
- above the thin black bottom line--10 events that took place in the United States at that time
- below the thin black bottom line--10 events that took place in the person's life at that time

6.  As a class, share the work that each student did. Discuss similarities and differences among the results of the interviews (people growing up in the US) and similarities and differences between people growing up in the US and the Soviet Union.