Author: Sís, Peter, 1949-
Title: The wall: growing up behind the Iron Curtain
Published: New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
Description: 1 v. (unpaged) :col. ill., maps ; 32 cm.
Call Number: NC975.5 S57 A2 2007
Note(s): "Caldecott Honor Book", "The Robert F. Sibert Medal", "Frances Foster books."
Summary: I was born at the beginning of it all, on the Red side - the Communist side - of the Iron Curtain. Through annotated illustrations, journals, maps, and dreamscapes, Peter Sís shows what life was like for a child who loved to draw, proudly wore the red scarf of a Young Pioneer, stood guard at the giant statue of Stalin, and believed whatever he was told to believe. But adolescence brought questions. Cracks began to appear in the Iron Curtain, and news from the West slowly filtered into the country. Sís learned about beat poetry, rock 'n' roll, blue jeans, and Coca-Cola. He let his hair grow long, secretly read banned books, and joined a rock band. Then came the Prague Spring of 1968, and for a teenager who wanted to see the world and meet the Beatles, this was a magical time. It was short-lived, however, brought to a sudden and brutal end by the Soviet-led invasion. But this brief flowering had provided a glimpse of new possibilities - creativity could be discouraged but not easily killed
Subject(s):
- Sís, Peter, 1949- -- Childhood and youth -- Juvenile literature
- Illustrators -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
- Authors, American -- 20th century -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
- Czech Americans -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
- Czechoslovakia -- Social conditions -- 1945-1992 -- Juvenile literature
- Czechoslovakia -- History -- 1945-1992 -- Juvenile literature
- Picture books for children
Read: November 19, 2011
