Module 10

Redo due to corrections

Summary

The Historical Fiction story I read this week for my blog was called The Wall: Growing up behind the Iron Curtin by Peter Sis. Peter Sis is from Prague, Czechoslovakia and he tells the story about his life in Communist Czechoslovakia as a young child, a teen and a young adult. He vividly tells his story using dates and art from his own diary. His story tells about how he lived, what his education was like and how no one had the right to express their own view point. Mr. Sis includes his own art work from his childhood and pictures of him growing up in the book.

Impression

I liked the book and how it was written. It was very personal for him to write this story and I sensed that it gave him closure to be free of the past. The historical facts of his story really kept me reading and held my interest. I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like to be told what to believe, how to think and how to act. He made me thankful to be an American.

Review from Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Born out of a question posed to Sís (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 War–era 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 Sís's own experience: He didn't question what he was being told. Then he found out there were things he wasn't told. The secret police, with tidy suits and pig faces, intrude into every drawing, watching and listening. As Sís 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. Sís rebels when possible, and in the book's 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 Sís's other books have their source in his family's 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.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* In an autobiographical picture book that will remind many readers of Marjane Satrapi's memoir Persepolis (2003), Sís' latest, a powerful combination of graphic novel and picture book, is an account of his growing up in Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule. Written in several stands, the somewhat fragmented narrative never dilutes the impact of the boldly composed panels depicting scenes from Sís' infancy through young adulthood. Throughout, terrific design dramatizes the conflict between conformity and creative freedom, often through sparing use of color; in many cases, the dominant palette of black, white, and Communist red threatens to swallow up young Peter's freely doodled, riotously colored artwork. The panels heighten the emotional impact, as when Sís fleeing the secret police, emerges from one spread's claustrophobic, gridlike sequence into a borderless, double-page escape fantasy. Even as they side with Peter against fearsome forces beyond his control, younger readers may lose interest as the story moves past his childhood, and most will lack crucial historical context. But this will certainly grab teens—who will grasp both the history and the passionate, youthful rebellions against authority—as well as adults, many of whom will respond to the Cold War setting. Though the term picture book for older readers has been bandied about quite a bit, this memorable title is a true example. Mattson, Jennifer

Lesson

I would use this book for a history lesson dealing with the cold war as an introduction to the unit. I would assign the students’ a research group project about The Cold War that would include all the countries affected by this period of history.