The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain is a dense and fascinating graphic memoir. Peter Sis recounts his childhood in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the 1960's through elaborate illustrations and carefully chosen words. There are two two-page spreads that include excerpts from his boyhood diary. Although it is a memoir, Sis tells a more universal story of life in Prague and the Eastern bloc during this time as well. It's a fascinating and riveting look into the historical period. This book is dense with historical information, and Sis deftly uses pictures to tell the story of his boyhood. The illustrations in this book use color in a highly emotive way to enhance the story. Because the book is so honest, the depictions of this complex show more time may not be understandable to very young children. show less

This might be my favorite book that I read all semester. Using a graphic novel narrative form in an oversized picture book allowed for both the words and the illustrations to have many details and levels of meaning. Sis writes about the difficult life of being outside of the standards of the perfect communist. His rebellion is in his art, and in his brain, but there are threats to sharing it with others. He captures the paranoia of the iron curtain and the suffering of the people who lived behind it. His illustrated memoir resonates on an emotional and a historical level, and is one of the best picture books I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Outstanding biographical text that gives readers a glimpse of life behind the Iron Curtain without freedom, choices, and hope. Illustrations marvelously show readers the activities that were forced on people and the suspicion that was prevalent. Wonderful entry point to multiple viewpoints, and stepping into someone else's shoes. There is much to digest from the illustrations that are excellent conversation starters about freedom, dreams, trust, lies, etc. that should lead to excellent classroom discussions.

“I was born at the beginning of it all, on the Red side—the Communist side—of the Iron Curtain.” Through annotated illustrations, journals, maps, and dreamscapes, Peter Sís shows what life was like for a child who loved to show more draw, proudly wore the red scarf of a Young Pioneer, stood guard at the giant statue of Stalin, and believed whatever he was told to believe. But adolescence brought questions. show less

This book was about Peter Sis's experience growing up in Czechoslovakia when it was controlled by the Soviets in the mid- 1900s. The Cold War & his schooling under the Soviet rule shaped everything about Sis, but couldn't take away his love of drawing. (He did get really good at drawing tanks and pro-Soviet propaganda though.) These wonderful drawings that are mostly black and white, with the accent of communist Red throughout, (although there are some illustrations with more color - like the Beatles/1960s page!) retell an incredible time in history through the sensitive eyes of one person. There is plenty of straightforward factual & historical information, but it is all kept short, sweet & to the point, so that it effortlessly fits in show more with what the reader is seeing in illustrations. I love his rebellious nature too: 'Every one of us in the academy has to create a piece of art celebrating the Soviet Army. I'm glad I;m in the animation department! I'' just paint the backgrounds and explain that the tanks are coming later'. And I love this story: Sis's first professional assignment in 1975 was to paint a little airport for an album cover. The art director asked him which way his red-and-white wind sock was blowing in the painting. When Sis thought he was joking, he replied that 'if the wind is blowing from west to east, it could be read as coming from West Germany to the Soviet Union', which would get Sis in trouble. What a fantastic piece of artwork this book is! show less

I found The Wall filed in the children's section of my public library, but I really would argue that it belongs, or also belongs, in the adult graphic books section.

This is a memoir by artist Peter Sis of his years growing up in Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia. Told mostly through pictures (he is also the book’s illustrator), it is in two senses a “portrait of an artist as a young man.”

Part of the book features entries from Sis’s diaries over the years, but the bulk of it consists of detailed montages of events that characterized life in the Communist Bloc. These pictures are drawn in gray, black, and white, with only a few exceptions. This reflects both the bleakness and the categorical imperatives of life under the Soviet show more umbrella. Soviet influence is shown, fittingly, in red. Western cultural incursions are shown in vivid happy colors.

Sis often dreams of being free, and he depicts these dream sequences as well. One, for example, shows two maps – his current land and his dream land (the latter featuring the New York skyline in the corner). The places in his present country have names like “Suspicion” “Corruption” and “Injustice.” On the other map, we can see “Freedom,” “Truth,” “Wisdom,” and “Integrity.” [Oh, would that it were entirely so!]

On the very last two-page panel, he proclaims, “Sometimes dreams come true. On November 9, 1980, the wall fell.” This of course refers to the Berlin Wall (which actually fell out of confusion more than a deliberate effort. See the story here, and check out this very cool interactive historical time line here.)

As Sis explains in the text that runs around the picture:

"One country after another becomes free: Poland (1989), Czechoslovakia (1989), Hungary (1989-1990), East Germany (1989-1990), Romania (1989-1990), and Bulgaria (1989-1990). East and West Germany unite (1990), and the Soviet Union breaks up (1991). The Cold War is over.”

Evaluation: There are quite a few aspects of this Caldecott Honor Book that will appeal to younger children, but I think it will have more value to young people learning about this period of history, and to adults who perhaps will even remember these revolutionary times.

Note: Václav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, says of the work, “Peter Sís’s book is most of all about the will to live one’s life in freedom and should be required reading for all those who take their freedom for granted.” show less

Using simple pictures with little color to great effect, Peter Sis tells his story of growing up in Czechoslovakia when the country was behind the Iron Curtain. Ostensibly for children, the book doesn't hold back from exploring the complexities of living under a Communist regime. The author shows how he was brainwashed as a child and told what to draw, and follows him through his teenage years when he awakened to much of the censorship and control going on around him.

This book is an excellent example of the way in which a story can be powerfully told in graphic form. The Introduction and Afterword serve as the text that grounds the story in history - both the general history of the Cold War, and Peter's personal history as he eventually show more leaves his home country behind. The images make up the bulk of the story, giving a bird's eye view as we very quickly go through twenty or so years of Peter's life and in how small the elements of the illustrations are. Most of the illustrations are black and white, except for the red of Communist flags and the colors of Peter's art. Clips from his journals serve both to move the story along through time and to give readers a fuller view of what's going on in Peter's life, including such things as the music that influenced him and photographs from his childhood. This is a really excellent, rich story that I highly recommend. show less

In words and drawings Sís reminisces about his childhood and youth in communist controlled Czechoslovakia. “As long as he could remember, he had loved to draw.” As an infant and child at home in Prague he was free to draw whatever he wanted, but when he went to school he was told what to draw and what to think. “Looking back, I can see how easy it is to brainwash a child. We were like sheep … until music from the free world—rock ‘n’ roll and the Beatles—made a crack in the wall.” As a youth during the Prague Spring he became part of a rock group and a radio disc jockey until the Russian tanks moved in and the government began to watch and question everybody. In Los Angeles in 1984 he had a chance to defect and he took show more it. “Now when my American family goes to visit my Czech family in the colorful city of Prague, it is hard to convince them it was ever a dark place full of fear, suspicion, and lies…” show less