The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

• author and illustrator: Peter Sis  http://www.petersis.com/index2.html
• ink & photographs

• year of publication: 2007
• publication city:  New York
• publisher:  Francis Foster Books
• ISBN: 978-0-374-34701-7

Annotation:   Peter Sis shares memories from his childhood growing up behind the “Iron Curtain” in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War.  He provides personal and historical accounts of living under communist rule as well as captivating illustrations.

Personal Thoughts:

The Wall is a good account of one man’s childhood spent under the rule of communism.  Why is an historical and bibliographic account of one’s life effective?  In Peter Sis’s case, the book works by allowing the reader to both see the imagery of what life was like as well as read first-hand accounts of how he lived in a society of crushing censorship and distrust.  Freedom of expression was never promoted during Sis’s childhood and any opinions and free thought had to be hidden from the communist rulers. 

The story works well, setting as dreary beginning in Czechoslovakia where support for the government was mandatory and informing against your friends and family was highly encouraged.  Later, progressive movements and ideologies bring a ray of hope into Sis’s teenage years, and Western influences like rock n’ roll seep into the country, offering possibility and expression.  Then it is all shattered when Russia and Soviet forces condemn his country for its liberal ways and come down hard with strict communist rulings.   It seems all hope is lost.  But time will change things and the Cold War, we see, ends.

***Curricular Connection – 9^th Grade,  World History – Soviet Union, Communist Bloc, Cold War, Berlin Wall.  The Wall is a fantastic tool for exposing students to life under the Soviet Communist Party during the Cold War.  It can bring about discussion of a time when there were 2 global superpowers and an extreme divide in ideology. 

***Artwork – Peter Sis’s illustrations have an evolving effect throughout the book.  Beginning the story in black and white with only accents of colors, most strikingly the communist red flags and stars, the aura of Sis’s childhood seems dismal, a void of color.  Throughout the story we get snippets of more colors creeping into the culture of communist Czechoslovakia, until finally we hit 1968, when an invasion of colors and western culture bring hope and potential to Peter Sis’s life.  The restriction of colors prepared us for a bleak experience and the introduction of colors conveyed what life was missing under a totalitarian rule.  Color represents artistic and human freedom and the message really comes through in the artwork.  It is a clever and effective art style choice!