Module 12 - The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

Biography

Sis, P. (2007). The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain.  New York: Frances Foster Books.

Summary

Relying heavily on drawings, Peter Sis tells about his life in Prague, from the time he was born up until the time the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.  Sis tells of the things he was taught in school and that during this period of schooling he was being brainwashed.  Sis also includes excerpts from his journals he kept while growing up.  As a teenager, he starts to rebel by secretly listening to music from America and Great Britain, and by joining a rock group.  This was short lived, however.  The government clamped down on the small freedoms some were beginning to have.  At this period, Sis explains that things got progressively worse, but he still dreamed.  And in the end his dreams came true with the fall of the Wall.

My Thoughts

This was an interesting look into what it was like living without the freedoms we all take for granted.  I especially liked the way Sis used his drawings to help portray just what was going on such as neighbors spying on neighbors.  I also really liked reading the journal excerpts because it really makes it more real.

Reviews

“This picture-book autobiography for older readers portrays Sis’ growing up in Prague under Communist rule.  The illustrations, which alternate between comic-style panels and full-page scenes, show young Sis drawing and expressing himself against claustrophobic black-and-white back-drops with red Communist symbols as accents.  Only the artist’s work and other images symbolizing free thought appear in full color.  Excerpts from Sis’ journals will help readers relate to the history and show how his art sets him free in a time when ‘people are followed, monitored, harassed, imprisoned, deported, and tortured.’  This deeply personal history is a chilling look at life behind the Iron Curtain.”

Tillotson, L. (Jan 2008). [Review of the book The Wall: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis]. Book Links, 17(3), p 23

Ideas for Use

I think this would be a great book to use in the classroom when studying history or other cultures.  A challenge could be issued to the children to go one week without radio, TV, etc. in order to give them just a little understanding about how it would have been to live behind the Iron Curtain.