The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

Born out of a question posed to Sí s ("Play, Mozart, Play!") by his children (Are you a settler, Dad?), the author pairs his remarkable artistry with journal entries, historical context and period photography to create a powerful account of his childhood in Cold Warera Prague. Dense, finely crosshatched black-and-white drawings of parades and red-flagged houses bear stark captions: Public displays of loyalty"compulsory". Children are encouraged to report on their families and fellow students. Parents learn to keep their opinions to themselves. Text along the bottom margin reveals young Sí ss own experience: He didnt question what he was being told. Then he found out there were things he wasnt told. The secret police, with tidy suits and pig faces, intrude into every drawing, watching and listening. As Sí s grows to manhood, Eastern Europe discovers the Beatles, and the Prague Spring of 1968 promises liberation and freedom. Instead, Soviet tanks roll in, returning the city to its previous restrictive climate. Sí s rebels when possible, and in the books final spreads, depicts himself in a bicycle, born aloft by wings made from his artwork, flying toward America and freedom, as the Berlin Wall crumbles below. Although some of Sí ss other books have their source in his familys history, this one gives the adage write what you know biting significance. Younger readers have not yet had a graphic memoir with the power of "Maus" or "Persepolis" to call their own, but they do now. Ages 8-up. "(Aug.)" Copyright 2007 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Gr 4 Up Personal, political, passionate -- these are among the qualities that readers have come to appreciate about Sís's autobiographical books such as "The Three Golden Keys" (Doubleday, 1994) and "Tibet through the Red Box" (Farrar, 1998). This layered foray into family and Czech history begins with succinct sentences at the bottom of each page. Captions accompanying the art -- arranged in panels of varying size -- fill in more details. The pacing and design of the compositions create their own rhythm, contributing much to the resulting polyphony. Sís immediately engages even his youngest audience with a naked, cherubic self-portrait, colored pencil in hand. The ensuing scenes of home and community life in Prague, rendered predominantly in black and white, are punctuated with Communist red and tiny fragments of color as the young artist experiments in the face of rigid conformity. The third-person narration achieves an understatement that helps to mitigate the more disturbing descriptions found in his double-spread journal entries. Bordered by Sís's youthful art, photographs, and propaganda posters, these selections depict his reality behind the Iron Curtain from 1954 to 1977. The recurring themes of music and art as important vehicles of self-expression, and the relationship between a government's inclination to embrace or suppress that creativity and the state's vitality, will resonate with teens. This celebration of the arts climaxes in a full-color spread à la Peter Max. Complex, multifaceted, rich in detail, this book shares the artist's specific heritage while connecting to universal longings. His concluding visions of freedom are both poignant and exhilarating.--Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

"The ecstatic energy and big-spirited inventiveness of the artist's drawings make the once all but unimaginable realization of that dream visible for all to see." —The New York Times Book Review

"Sís' most ambitious and personal book." —USA TODAY

"A sophisticated and sobering picture book exposé." —The San Francisco Chronicle

"The Wall makes for irresistible reading." —Washington Post Book World

"Mr. Sís's account belongs as much in the living room as it does in the nursery." —The Wall Street Journal

"Peter Sís [is a] master of the not-necessarily-for-children picture book." —The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Peter Sís's The Wall... may be his finest book to date - no small feat." —The Boston Globe

"Glorious artwork." —Elle

"Will both engross and haunt his audience." —Starred, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Complex, multifaceted, rich in detail . . . [Sís's] concluding visions of freedom are both poignant and exhilarating." —Starred, School Library Journal

"A masterpiece for readers young and old." —Starred, Kirkus Reviews

"Younger readers have not yet had a graphic memoir with the power of Maus or Persepolis to call their own, but they do now." —Starred, Publishers Weekly

"The deployment of media choices and color throughout the book is both expert and telling: bold, stark black marker for an invading Soviet tank, dreamy blue crayon for the night the Beach Boys played Prague . . . a comprehensive portrait of an era, an artist, and the persistence of the latter in the face of the former." —Starred, The Horn Book

"A powerful combination of graphic novel and picture book . . . Terrific design dramatizes the conflict between conformity and creative freedom." —Starred, Booklist

"Simply and effectively illustrates the history of Czechoslovakia's struggle with totalitarianism and evokes the dreams of his repressed people." —VOYA

"This stunning book is a MUST for anybody who is curious to learn about the world we live in!" —Milos Forman, Oscar winning-director of Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

"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." —Václav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic

"Peter Sís, who has entranced children and adults with his magical stories and drawings, has taken his talent to a new level. Peter, born to dream and draw, is now also teaching the tragic history of his native Czechoslovakia under communism in this beautiful, poignant, and important work for those of all ages. " —Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State

"This extraordinary achievement is a powerful reminder of the hard-won freedoms that drew so many to this country's shores." —Shelf Awareness