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.   

The Composer is Dead

The Composer is Dead

• author:  Lemony Snicket  http://www.lemonysnicket.com/
• illustrator:  Carson Ellis  http://www.carsonellis.com/
• medium: watercolor

• year of publication:  2009
• publication city:  New York
• publisher:  Harper Collins Publishers
• ISBN:  978-0-06-123627-3

Annotation:  The composer is dead and whodunnit?  Everyone has a motive, an alibi and nearly everyone is a musical instrument. Join the inspector as he interrogates the ususal suspects.

Personal Thoughts:  When I first read the story, I didn't bother playing the accompanying cd.  I thought the story was nice enough, using the musical characteristics of the instruments to describe their alibis at the time of the composer's death.  But I felt the story was missing something: music of course. 

I played the cd and the story came alive with the narration accompanied by the actual orchestral recordings.  It really helped and added a theatrical quality to the book.  I'd have to say the book is more fun with the audio component.  The whole package: book and cd, make the experience better.

***Curriculum Connection - 5th Grade musical appreciation/theory
***Lesson Plan - Read the story The Composer is Dead together as a class while playing the accompanying cd.  Remember to discuss the instruments as they play.  Then play samples of each instrument and ask students to write down what instruments they are listening to.  This lesson helps children distinguish separate instruments within orchestral music.

The Prince of Tennis: vol. 1

The Prince of Tennis: volume 1

• author & illustrator: Takeshi Konomi
• medium: pencil & ink
• year of publication: 2004
• city of publication:  San Francisco, CA
• publisher:  VIZ, LLC
•  ISBN:  1-59116-435-4

Annotation:  Scandal arises when 12 year old Ryoma Echizen, a lowly 7th grader, is picked to enter the 16-year-old and under tennis group.  How could someone so young compete against older players?  Turns out, Ryoma is no ordinary student of tennis.

Personal Thoughts:  I can see why this manga series is so popular amongst older reader in the library.  The Prince of Tennis is action packed and tells a feel-good tale of a young person who has a good heart winning matches against older opponents that underestimate him for his youth.  Every young person I know can relate to the storyline. 

The book is presented as a series of action set pieces involving exciting tennis matches.   There’s Sakuno, the girl who has a crush on Ryoma to add a romance element.  There are the older, mean boys who think they can control the tennis team with tricks and meanness.   Ryoma is confident but not cocky and always bests his opponents with coolness and style.  The Prince of Tennis is a great introduction to the series that makes fun reading for readers in 5^th to 12^th grades.

Landed

Landed

• author:  Milly Lee "no author website"
• illustrator:  Yangsook Choi  http://www.yangsookchoi.com/
• year of publication:  2006
• publication city:  New York
• publisher:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• ISBN:  0-374-34314-4

Annotation: After leaving his home in southeastern China, twelve-year-old Sun is held and interrogated on Angel Island before being allowed to join his merchant father in San Francisco.

Personal thoughts:  I liked the attention to details that Milly Lee’s Landed presents in telling the story of a young Chinese immigrant attempting to enter the United States with his father.  It took immense preparation to immigrate into the U.S. due to the Chinese Exclusion Act.  The new arrivals were held at Angel Island, sometimes for a whole year.  The story was well written with lots of information.  The art is just okay.  I like each illustration, but it seems less important than the text that casts a shadow over the art.  This is one of those books that tells a story with text, and the art is a side note. 

Nonetheless, Landed teaches readers about the troubles taken to immigrate to the U.S. from China at the turn of 20^th Century.  It explains what a “Paper Son” is, what the Chinese Exclusion Act was and how detention at Angel Island operated.  

***Curricular Connection – Eleventh grade U.S. History, Civics – immigration, Chinese Exclusion Act, “Paper Son”.  Discuss the relationship between the immigration influx throughout history and the immigration issues facing the U.S. today.

Lizzi Newton and the Sand Francisco Earthquake

Lizzie Newton and the San Francisco Earthquake

• author:  Stephen Krensky  http://www.stephenkrensky.com/
• illustrator:  Jeremy Tugeau  http://jeremytugeau.com/index.html
• medium:  oil
• year of publication:  2011
• publication city:  Minneapolis, MN
• publisher:  Millbrook Press
• ISBN:  978-0-8225-9031-6

Annotation:  While Lizzie Newton is staying at her grandmother’s house, the great San Francisco earthquake occurs in the middle of the night.  After Lizzie gets her injured grandmother to the hospital, the young girl is on her own. 

Personnal Thoughts:  I live so close to San Francisco and visit it quite often.  To imagine living during the great earthquake of 1906, I’d have plenty of ideas as to how things looked and what I’d be doing.  For some reason, Lizzie Newton and the San Francisco Earthquake doesn’t seem like a genuine representation of a famous San Francisco event.  While some actual locations are mentioned, Russian Hill, Union Square, author Stephen Krensky doesn’t really describe San Francisco.  I never really felt like Lizzie was a fleshed out character in a city I personally hold dear.  The story of how Lizzie survives the earthquake and searches for her parents is lacking in the specific details that make a story engaging, interesting and satisfying. 

The book does include a script of the book that can be performed by a classroom, which is a brilliant idea and should be copied by books written with more personality and interest. 

The artwork is quite nice with an impressionist style of painting, but again, fails to capture the essence of San Francisco.

***Curriculum Connection -  5^th Grade U.S. History, San Francisco Earthquake, 20^th Century California History

All My Friends Are Dead

All My Friends Are Dead

• authors/illustrators:  Avery Monson http://www.averymonsen.com/ & Jory John http://www.bigstonehead.net/
• medium:  marker and digital color
• year of publication:  2010
• city of publication:  San Francisco, CA
• publisher:  Chronicle Books
• ISBN:  978-0-8118-7455-7

Annotation:  An amusing collection of musings on death. Here, in accessible cartoon form, are the amusing existential predicaments of clowns, cassette tapes, dinosaurs, zombies, snowmen, houseplants, and others as they each face the inevitable.

Personal Thoughts:  Essentially this book is comprised of a series of jokes.  The jokes are cynical and hilarious, poking fun at the myriad anxieties felt from modern people today, as well extinct species, zombies, pirates and abominable snowmen, etc.  The humor is a definite chronicle of our time.  This is "emo" kid humor.  Cassette tapes are obsolete.  On a deserted island with only 2 people, one is bound to hate the other more.  Why exactly does the ventriloquist make out with his dummy?  It's difficult to explain why this clever little book is so funny.  Is this generation dense due to the fact that we know it's funny without being able to explain why it's funny.  Maybe it's just me.