Whether you're a teacher presenting a lesson on the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, or totalitarian regimes or a parent wanting to give your child an engaging historical autobiography to read, The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain 
would make an excellent choice. For more information about the book, read my review and find links to other blog reviews here.
As I mentioned in my review, I think older kids (9 and up) would get the most benefit and understanding out of the book, but don't let that sway you from telling the story to younger kids. I even recommend using it as a supplementary resource for teenagers who are learning about the Cold War. Don't let the fact that it's a "picture book" sway you from using this with older kids because the colors and presentation are mature, and there is a great deal of basic information about the era.
Here are a few learning resources you can use to expand upon the book.
First, check out this
teacher's guide from Peter Sis's website.
Next, here some websites where you can get more information about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall:
Finally, here are a few books for children age 9 and up:
Nonfiction Monday!
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (Caldecott Honor Book) by Peter Sis
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 56 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (August 21, 2007)
Imagine a life where you could only draw what the government said you could draw. A life where you couldn’t listen to music or read books of your own choice, you couldn’t grow your hair long, and you were asked to report your parents if they said anything negative about the government.
This was what life was like for Peter Sis and countless others who grew up in Cold War Era Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule.
Through journal entries, captions, and the story of a boy who loves to draw (Sis), we get an account of the Cold War era from 1948 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The boy in the book is allowed to draw anything he wants at home, but when he starts school, he can only draw what he’s told to draw. We learn how easy it is to brainwash children who are encouraged to report their parents if they hear them say anything against the government. To Sis, this is the way life is until he gets wind of things he isn’t allowed to know about: rock ‘n roll music, the Beatles, Elvis Presley. We then learn what it’s like to be oppressed, to be denied freedom and get glimpses of Sis’ dreams to be free.
Sis’ graphic-novel like book effectively conveys tone through color. With black and white sketches, the only splashes of color are communist red and the colors in the boy’s drawings. During the Prague Spring of 1968, the colors in the book brighten, demonstrating hope and cheerfulness—colors of freedom. But they quickly go back to the black and white drawings when the totalitarian regime comes back in full force.
A stirring book, I recommend this for older kids who are able to grasp the seriousness of the content and even high school students who are studying the Cold War.
Other blog reviews:
The Mind Wobbles
Rants and Raves
A Fuse #8 Production
One Minute Book Reviews
Lisa’s Blog
Sheryl McFarlane’s Book Blog
Library and Literary Miscellany
LIFT 2008
Menasha Kids
Contending with the Culture
See the rest of the Nonfiction Monday roundup at Picture Book of the Day.
"Mary Ryan Gallery is pleased to present 'Peter Sís:
Freedom of Expression,' Peter Sís’s first gallery exhibition in New York."
Shaken & Stirred recently directed me to a site showing several fine illustrated works by one Sergey Tyukanov. You can see a whole heaping helpful of them here. What I like about these is their first-glance similarities to the work of Peter Sis. Of course, Sis is Czech and Mr. Tyukanov is Russian. They're not wholly dissimilar, though. I wonder what similar influences they might share.
