Library & Literary Miscellany

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis (2007)

“He didn’t question what he was being told…This was the time of brainwashing”

There may have been a time when Peter Sis did not question what he was being told, but The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain stands as a testament to the fact that today Peter Sis is an independent thinker (as well as a talented artist). By sharing his story, Sis gives us a textual and pictorial front seat view into communism in Czechoslovakia from the beginning of the Cold War to its end.

Throughout The Wall, Sis is shown trying to make sense out of the life and the culture that lies before him. He knows he wants to be an artist, but self-expression and personal identity are frowned upon in favor of complete conformity and communal identity. He struggles with what he is being taught versus what he feels in his heart, “He stopped drawing and was left with only his dreams. But he had to draw. Sharing the dreams gave him hope.”

Sis makes the atmosphere of fear, suspicion, and lies relevant to children by telling about the Czech government’s policy that encouraged young children to inform on family and friends. Limited freedoms and limited choice is reflected in Sis’ stark text and illustrations. His black and white pen and ink illustrations fill most each page; when color is used, it is largely communist red. With 56 pages (more than the traditional 32 pages found in most picture books) and cartoon like panels, The Wall amalgamates the best of the picture book and graphic novel formats.

While it contains only a mere five paragraphs, Sis’ introduction provides a lucid synopses of the Cold war and sets the stage for his memoir. He writes, “The Soviet Union and the Western nations managed their territories in different ways. The Western Bloc countries were all independent democracies, while the Eastern Bloc was tightly controlled by the Soviet Union.” He notes that Europe was divided “symbolically, ideologically, and physically…I was born at the beginning of it all, on the Red side–the Communist side–of the Iron Curtain.” The story then opens with the Soviet’s closing of the Czech borders in 1948; it ends with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Sis’ explanation of how difficult it is to put into words the Cold War. Sis has overcome this difficulty by putting his story and the story of these years in world history it into words and pictures while also incorporating other elements such as a historical timeline and excerpts from his journals.

Sis’ book deals with a complex and politically-charged time in world history. On the one hand, adults may need to help younger readers navigate the timeline and make it relevant to life today; on the other hand, the complexity encourages discourse and questioning of different value systems and ways of being. The Wall takes readers outside personal circumstances into recognition that other individuals and people’s of the world have hopes, dreams, and realities as real as their own. The Wall also enhances appreciation of freedom–freedom to draw, freedom to be, freedom to choose.

Sis has won awards for other works (e.g., Starry Messenger as winner of the 1997 Caldecott Honor). The Wall has earned him a couple of additional distinctions, recently winning the Robert F. Sibert Medal and a Caldecott Honor. So my final take on The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain:

Reading this book
COMPULSORY
Failing to read this book
PROHIBITED

(Not that I’m advocating conformity or coercion…but, I’m SUGGESTING this will be popular among students of history and with those who enjoy non-traditional book formats.  It will also come in handy for teachers and students facing Cold War era curricula.)

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The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers (2004)

My Dearest King–

You will be glad to learn that I am still available for any quest, adventure, or dangerous mission for which you might need a champion or knight-errant. I specialize in dragon-slaying, but would be happy to fight pirates or invading barbarians if circumstances require…

So begins the story of Aidan Errolson, a boy with a big imagination and an even bigger heart. The Bark of the Bog Owl, the first book of Jonathan Rogers’ Wilderking Trilogy, is at a basic level a retelling of the Old Testament story of David and Goliath, but Rogers moves far beyond this basic level in creating a unique story about a boy who is called upon to do great things flanked by a motley collection of comrades and a series of unusual occurrences.

Although there are some parallel characters, Aidan Errolson (David), King Darrow (King Saul), Bayard the Truth Speaker (Prophet Samuel), Greidawl (Goliath), Rogers also creates some original ones such as Dobro of the fascinating Feechiefolk. Even the parallel characters have been developed so that readers gain a new sense of what their experiences must have been like and the courage that it must have taken for a small boy to face not only a giant but also the derision of his own brothers and people.

When Aidan doubts himself, Bayard tells him, “Live the life that unfolds before you.” The story pits small Corenwald and the one God against the mighty Pyrthens and their many gods. As Aidan prepares to face Greidawl he proclaims, “If I am defeated tomorrow, I want to die as I have lived–a shepherd boy, with the sun on my forehead and the breeze in my hair. But if I overcome, everyone must know that the One God, and not Aidan Errolson, is the Champion of Corenwald. Neither arms nor armor can deliver Corenwald–only the arm of the One God.” Now those would make some great famous last words, but, fortunately, they aren’t his last words as everyone knows that David defeats Goliath (or in this case, Aidan defeats Greidawl).

Although Aidan’s choices and the ending are somewhat of foregone conclusions, Rogers moves the story along and keeps it interesting by throwing in some humor, adding characters, creating increasingly grand action episodes, and changing of scenery. As Aidan’s adventures increase in scope, the setting shifts easily from Tambluff Castle, to Feechiefen Swamp, to Bonifay Plain, and beyond. Plus, the inclusion of a giant helps along the cause of getting the blood pumping and the pages turning.

The first book in the Wilderking Trilogy, The Bark of the Bog Owl speaks to love for God and country, faith, bravery, and overcoming seemingly impossible odds. The remaining two books of the trilogy appear promising to do more of the same (book 2: The Secret of the Swamp King (2005) and book 3: The Way of the Wilderking (2006)).

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