Sis, Peter. (2007). The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. New York, New York: Frances Foster Books.
Brief Annotation: Peter Sis, a noted artist, illustrator and children's book author, tells the story of growing up in Prague during the Cold War. The bottom of each page tells a simple narrative (one short sentence per page) of how Sis loved to draw from the time he was very young, and how the communist regime impacted what he drew as a child, until he began to question government propaganda. He tells of how his drawing and music were a secret escape from communist oppression, and how life got worse and more restrictive until finally the Berlin Wall fell, and he was free to draw what he wanted. The text within the drawings tells a detailed story about the history of Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule, and of Sis's personal history and thoughts throughout his childhood and young adulthood. The pictures add a third layer of interpretation to the text. Black, white and red drawings depict compulsory activities under communism, government oppression, and tanks rolling into Prague, while Sis's own creations (and the "Prague Spring" of 1968) are depicted in vibrant color. Entries from his journals are circled with small reproductions of his drawings and paintings from the period described in the journal entries.
Genre: Picturebook autobiography
Grade Level: 5-9
Readers who will like this: Older readers who are learning about modern European history, readers who love to draw and paint, readers who are interested in themes of freedom and oppression.
Response/Rating (1-4): 4. I have never read a book like this before. The illustrations, journals, historical text and simple narrative all work together on many different levels. I picked this book because Galda used it as an illustration of the use of color in picturebooks, but it is much more than that, and could lead to so many different types of conversations with students, about history, freedom of expression, art, and life.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: What parts of your life does the government control? What if the government controlled all parts of your life? What would you do?
Reading Strategies Connection: I think that the "Ten Important Words" activity from Yopp & Yopp, p. 90-94, would be a good way to help students process some of the complicated ideas presented in this text. The text could be divided into two sections. For each section, students would write down 10 words that describe the most significant ideas in the section (words like "compulsory," "communism," and "censor") as they silently read. The students revise their list as they read to come up with the 10 most important words, then the teacher will help the student make a bar graph of the chosen words, and discuss why they were significant in the story. After this discussion, the students will write a short summary of the text based on this discussion. This is a good activity because the vocabulary used in this book reflects the themes of the book, and will help to build students' comprehension.
Grade Level: 5-9
Readers who will like this: Older readers who are learning about modern European history, readers who love to draw and paint, readers who are interested in themes of freedom and oppression.
Response/Rating (1-4): 4. I have never read a book like this before. The illustrations, journals, historical text and simple narrative all work together on many different levels. I picked this book because Galda used it as an illustration of the use of color in picturebooks, but it is much more than that, and could lead to so many different types of conversations with students, about history, freedom of expression, art, and life.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: What parts of your life does the government control? What if the government controlled all parts of your life? What would you do?
Reading Strategies Connection: I think that the "Ten Important Words" activity from Yopp & Yopp, p. 90-94, would be a good way to help students process some of the complicated ideas presented in this text. The text could be divided into two sections. For each section, students would write down 10 words that describe the most significant ideas in the section (words like "compulsory," "communism," and "censor") as they silently read. The students revise their list as they read to come up with the 10 most important words, then the teacher will help the student make a bar graph of the chosen words, and discuss why they were significant in the story. After this discussion, the students will write a short summary of the text based on this discussion. This is a good activity because the vocabulary used in this book reflects the themes of the book, and will help to build students' comprehension.
No comments:
Post a Comment