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!

Mirror

Mirrror

• author and illustrator:  Jeannie Baker  http://www.jeanniebaker.com/
• medium:  collage constructions reproduced from photographs

• year of publication:  2010
• publication city:  Somerville, Massachusetts
• publisher:  Candlewick Press
• ISBN:  978-0-7636-4848-0

Annotation:  In Sydney, Australia, and in Morocco, two boys and their families have a day of shopping.  Readers are invited to compare the illustrations in two wordless stories that intended to be read left to right and right to left respectively.

Personal Thoughts:  Mirror is such cool book both for its amazing artwork and for its cultural sensibilities.  By telling the stories of two boys in different part of the world side by side, the reader is challenged to make connections in the lives of the boys.  While the geographical and societal settings seem so different between Australia and Morocco, Baker intentionally emphasizes the similarities in the two lives.  Everyone eats together, everyone feeds their pets, everyone loves their mother, etc.  These universal conditions are what make two stories that seem completely separate from one another seem very closely related.  This book is a great tool for teaching multiculturalism and for exposing those who have not traveled or even considered the conditions of other cultures outside their own. The book also focuses on the cultural exchange of products and ideas.

***Artwork – The collages are so fun to look at for their almost photorealistic attributes.  The images are layered and look almost 3D.  Natural materials like sand and hair are evident and bring an amazing reality to the collage artwork. 

***Curricular Connection – 7^th Grade World History/ Civics/ Social Sciences.  Discussion Topics:  Differences & Similarities between Western nations and Eastern developing nations.  Cultural interchange through commodities and technology.   

Hogwash

Hogwash

• author & illustrator:  Arthur Geisert  "no author website"
• year of publication:  2008
• city of publication:  Boston
• publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Company
• ISBN:  978-0-618-77332-9

Annotation:  Illustrations, and no workds, depict the enormous and complicated contraption that Mama Pig uses to get her little piglets clean. 

Personal Thoughts: 

Anthropomorphic pigs?  A desert setting and contraptions from the era of the Dust-bowl?  A weird etching illustration style reminiscent of an earlier time?  I’ll take it!!

Hogwash is wordless, but it has a lot to say, if the reader slows down and examines the pictures and the silent narrative.  See and learn how these clothes wearing pigs stay cool in mud  baths the size of Olympic swimming pools.  Then witness their bathing process to get them clean, and the strange machinations involved, including windmills, steam engines, copper tubes and magnets, among others.

Author Geisert has put onto page a  window to his imagination and Hogwash is fun to look at and wonder why things are presented as they are.  Why does this take place in the desert?  Why is the machinery all from the 19th and 20th century?  How could pigs have created this?  It's a fun and silly book with beautiful artwork. 

***Artwork - Geisert's artwork is amazing to look at for its antiquated style.  It's look is old-timey, with lots of tin shacks, wooden structures and outdated technology.  The shading is incredible and the pictures are all hand sketched.  If I could describe the style, I'd say it has a "hipster" edge where it's very innocent and childlike, but it is grounded in history and comes from an era where life was hard.  I would consider Geisert's illustrations as true "art" in the traditional form.  While many picturebooks today have a commercial and polished look to them, Hogwash has an underground quality that kids and adults will be interested in. 

***Curricular Connection- 6th grade Art, Mechanical Drawing
6th grade Science, Inventions, Complex Devices

***Lesson Plans - Have students create their own devices like those in the book Hogwash.  Use a prompt to get them started, such as, "Create a machine/device that will get your pigs clean", or "Create a machine/device that powers the city for the pigs", etc.  

Thunderbirds: Nature's Flying Predators

Thunderbirds: Nature's Flying Predators

• author and illustrator:  Jim Arnosky  http://www.jimarnosky.com/
• medium:  acrylic paint and white chalk pencil

• year of publication:  2011
• publication city: New York
• publisher:  Sterling
• ISBN:  978-1-4027-5661-0

Annotation:  Artist Jim Arnosky presents life size foldout illustrations of Nature’s Flying Predators and discusses some interesting facts about these beautiful and majestic creatures.  Included are owls, herons, eagles, vultures and more!

Personal Thoughts:  At first I couldn’t believe some of the claims that the fold-out illustrations in this picture book were life-size.  The great gray owl’s head is massive!  It’s as big as my head!  Arnosky has crafted a beautiful book with paintings and sketches of a beloved topic dear to the author: giant predatory birds.  Arnosky’s writings combine a personal reflection of being in the field watching his avian subjects, and facts about their flying, hunting and eating habits as well as their habitat locations. 

was surprised at how interested I was and wanted to keep reading once I got started.  Did you know vultures have bald heads because they stick them inside rotting carcasses much of the time and feathers would be too messy to deal with?  Owls are silent predators while eagles and hawks rely on speed and agility.  I didn’t even realize I had so much interest in birds until Arnosky got me started.  This is a great read.

***Artwork -  The graphic presentation of this picturebook is amazing!  The pages fold-out to reveal gigantic illustrations of life-size paintings of osprey wing spans, pelican heads with beaks, and wide spreading heron and egret feet.  A naturalist illustrator, Arnosky has created lifelike acrylic and white chalk paintings that should be in an audobahn society book.   There are also impressive black and white pencil sketches of birds’ flight motions, talons and fish catching techniques.  Jim Arnosky is a very talented artist who has  large catalog of illustrated books. 

***Curriculum Connection - 7th Grade Life Science - Zoology, Birds of Prey

A River of Words

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams

•  author: Jen Bryant  http://www.jenbryant.com/
• illustrator: Melissa Sweet  http://melissasweet.net/
• medium: watercolor, collage, mixed media

• year of publication:  2008
• publication city:  Grand Rapids, Michigan
• publisher:  Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
• ISBN:  978-0-8028-5302-8

Annotation:  This picture book biography of Wiliam Carlos Williams traces childhood events that lead him to become a doctor and a poet. 

Personal Reaction:   It’s surprising how helpful picturebooks for older readers can be.  Again, I have learned so much from books that I thought would be too simple for me.
I have casually experienced the poems of William Carlos Williams in college classes and workshops.  Funny thing was, I always thought he wrote in Spanish and came from Central or South America, in the vein of Garcia Marquez, Neruda, or Vargas Llosa.  It was a shock that WCW is from New Jersey.  It must have been the “Carlos”.  It was interesting to learn that WCW ran with Ezra Pound and that literati circle. 

I would recommend this picturebook to any student doing a report on WCW.  It’s biographical and includes the poet’s most famous poems.  The story really explains how WCW transcended the structured rules of poetry, and crafted his own style and voice.  Having little knowledge on WCW’s background, A River of Words really enlightened me on the life of this great American poet.

***Artwork: Melissa Sweet has created a wonderful art style.  While the characters painted in watercolor help move the story along, the layered collages representing the poetry really stand out.  Dissecting old book discards from a New Jersey public library, Sweet layered different papers from books, journals, notepads and hand drawn illustrations to create a multifaceted piece that seems to jump out of the page.  The choice of papers seems to come from the early and middle 20^th century, when WCW would have lived.  It really adds another layer of interest on top of the already enriching story of the poet.  A fantastic effort!!

***Simile:
Now when he wrote poems, he felt as free as the Passaic River as it rushed to the falls. 

***Alliteration: 
Plums, wheelbarrows, and weeds 

***Rhyme
Plums, wheelbarrows, and weeds 
fire engines, children, and trees  

The archer is awake!
The Swan is flying!
Gold against blue
An Arrow is lying.

Houdini: The Handcuff King

Houdini: The Handcuff King

• author:  Jason Lutes  http://jlutes.wordpress.com/
• illustrator:  Nick Bertozzi  http://nickbertozzi.com/ 
• medium: pencil, ink, digital color
• year of publication:  2007
• publictation city:  New York
• publisher:  Hyperion Paperbacks
• ISBN:  978-078683903-2

Annotation:  In Boston, 1908, the world’s greatest escape artist Harry Houdini attempts a late-career feat jumping from the Harvard Bridge into the Charles River while handcuffed and shackled in front of hundreds of amazed spectators.

Personal Thoughts:  Lutes and Bertozzi have created an awesome study of the personality that was Harry Houdini.  This graphic novel is perfect for an introductory lesson on the world’s greatest escape artist. 

There is an informative introduction that acts as a short biography of Houdini, catching up novice fans as to how Houdini got to be the figure he was celebrated for.  Then the comic takes over presenting the setup and enactment of a stunt performed off the Harvard Bridge into the Charles River. 

The dramatic script by Lutes is so filled with complicated issues that the reader really feels like they are getting to know Houdini.  Houdini is shown as very dedicated to his craft, a perfectionist when it comes to preparation for the stunt.  He is a leader of men, demanding that his crew knows their tasks and make no mistakes.  Houdini is a dedicated husband to his love who takes an important role in love life and stage life. 

The book ends with a great set of “panel discussions” offering informative tidbits on a variety of topics including the city of Boston, Anti-Semitism, Reporters at the turn of the 20^th Century, and more.  

***Artwork – Bertozzi’s illustrations are a perfect for the setting of the early 1900s.  He’s pinned down the architecture and dress style of the era.  His caricatures have various ethnic features that emphasize the diversity of Boston at that time.  The color scheme is well thought out, presented in blacks, whites and blue tones.  The colorization reminds us of black and white films and there is always a feeling that these events happened long ago.  The thick ink lines and Bertozzi’s drawing style make Houdini: the Handcuff King an easy read that makes the story jump off the page.