The Wall by Peter Sis

on July 2, 2007 in Biography and Memoir, Non-Fiction

The WallThe Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain is a new graphic memoir from MacArthur Fellow and two-time Caldecott Honor winner Peter Sis, which tells of his life in communist Czechoslovakia. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18.00, September 2007, ISBN#: 978-0-374-34701-7

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5 Responses to “The Wall by Peter Sis”

  1. Linda Hornberg October 3, 2007 at 10:10 am #

    I discovered Peter Sis on New Year’s Day, 2007, while trolling the kid’s book section at Elliot Bay Books. They had a copy of Tibet Trough the Red Door, and, as I turned the pages, I couldn’t help saying,”oh, my God…” His work is like so many of my favorites rolled into one, and so now I am playing catchup, and gradually aquiring his past works. I don’t believe any apologies to anyone are necessary for “telling it like it is” ( or, was) in this new book. I have been writing a children’s newsletter, which has grown up in content along with my son. Kids don’t need more pap, and the graphic novel is fast becoming the favorite reading choice of older kids used to getting their print input in small,easily digested doses. Congrats to Mr. Sis, and thank you for the interview!

  2. Anne-Marie Wisniewski November 7, 2007 at 12:06 pm #

    hi ! I’m a french teacher and I came to the USA for several weeks for 2 courses, whose one is in MCAD in Minneapolis.
    I recently discovered your book “the Wall” because you came in Minneapolis.
    it was like a revelation for me because I have polish origins and I found rather the same problems my family had in Poland.
    I think your book is very interesting and I’ll translate it to my children at home.
    by the way, is there a french version or will it come soon ? because in France there are a lot of people who could be interested by this book.
    thanks a lot
    Anne-marie Wisniewski
    harrybear418@yahoo.com

  3. Paige and Kathryn March 17, 2010 at 10:26 am #

    Hello, we’re Paige and Kathryn and we love this book because we never knew that growing up in Chechoslovakia was totally different than growing up in United States. We’re in the third grade, and we’re both 9 years old. We enjoyed reading this book very much. Have a nice day!

  4. Eva Doohan June 19, 2011 at 5:05 pm #

    I enjoyed reading your book which I can relate to. I grew up in Czechoslovakia as well and escaped in 1979. Much of my experience was the same. I was not always told what to draw because I was not an outstanding artist and nobody paid any attention to what I was drawing. We also formed a short lived rock band but never performed publicly. In 1968, people got shot downtown Prostejov, where we lived. The electronics store on the corner of my street had huge bullet holes in the window. I think our parents shielded us from some of the realities of life- for instance, I was not aware that decorating our windows was mandatory until later. Our pioneer meetings were very feeble and finally fell apart. They were led by local paratroopers who played “na fanty” with us adolescent girls. I remember some of the girls were kissing the soldiers as part of the game. We also collected scrap metal and herbs for the pharmaceutical industry. I went to a rock concert in Brno but nothing happened. We were all to scared to do anything. Anyway, the story needed to be told. I am studying to be a teacher and definitely will read the book to my students.
    Eva

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  1. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis « Berryart's Blog - March 19, 2011

    [...] If you click here you will be directed to a podcast interview with Peter Sis about his book.  The podcast is about [...]

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