The Wall : Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis. 2007

An Illustrator's Young Life

Inspiration Book

The wall : growing up behind the Iron Curtain by Sis, Peter — Frances Foster Books, 2007. Dewey: 943.7; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 5.2. Artist Sis Peter describes what it was like growing up in a Communist country and discusses how Western culture influenced his life.

Rationale: I love a book that has so many teaching options. And, The Wall is one of those books. First, it can serve as the basis for a study of life behind the Iron Curtain from the conclusion of World War II to the fall of the Berlin Wall and eventually the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies. It’s a great choice for that because with one book you, the librarian or a teacher, can introduce a topic that occurs in the curriculum near the end of the year and often is ignored or skimmed over. But, if you have a teacher who manages to reach that period in history, here is the magic book for you to share OR give to the teacher to share. Read the book, show the book trailer and share the book again for the fullest impact. The book trailer includes visual clips of the people and places mentioned in the book. The book could also be a Wisdom Book--see the blog post "The Wisdom of Picture Books."

My second use for the book is a study of Peter Sis as an illustrator. In my small private school, I cultivated a relationship with the art teacher. She already had developed an art appreciation segment for each grade K-8 of her art curriculum. We added another segment, book illustration including the illuminated books of the medieval period. She and I tried to represent many types of  illustration and their illustrator and to include favorite illustrators and introduce new ones. Peter Sis is semi-new to the students--I’d share the Madlenka books with younger students when they study maps or communities and Sis’s Train of States with middle grade students when they do “research” about U.S. geography. The art teacher and I decided that a study of Sis as an illustrator needed to be at the middle school level because so much of his work is very detailed and requires an historical or cultural background because much of his work is symbolic. Not only do the art teacher and I collaborate, but together we collaborate with the classroom teacher. The Sis illustrator study is scheduled for a time the history/social studies or science teacher is teaching about Columbus (Follow the Dream), Galileo (Starry Messenger) or Darwin (Tree of Life). Since the publication of The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the Language Arts teacher could also be involved.

I use many resources for ideas, as I’m sure you do, but if you’re not familiar with two, I’d like to introduce them to you--both are included in the teacher resources this week. The first is a Wisconsin (my home state) based author, illustrator, book resources called TeachingBooks, www.teachingbooks.net. You will find interviews, websties, teacher guides and more for individual titles and authors and illustrators. You will note that many links below connect to Teaching Books. You may need to register initially.  

The second is a blog, Classroom Bookshelf, that was initially a stand alone blog, but is so good it has been absorbed by School Library Journal blogs www.slj.com. Each week detailed lesson plans for a specific newer title are posted. I used many of Classroom Bookshelf ideas for this illustrator study--they are marked with a CB. The CB blog featured The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery. In the plan shared below, I use only two ideas from the listed blog, but there are many, many more that you may want to incorporate into a more indepth lesson of your own.

In the related books list, I’ve separated books Sis illustrated only from those he both wrote and illustrated. At the end of the book lists is a list of Teacher Resources suitable for any of the books. After each specific title, I’ve listed Teacher Resources that correlate with that title.

How to Ideas:

1. Gather as many Peter Sis books, both written and illustrated by him and only illustrated by him. Do an illustration walk--gather students around a large table or in circle, giving each a book to explore, alternating books he wrote and books only illustrated. Put any extras in the middle of the group. Ideas from CB.
1. Students examine the illustrations noting any similarities and differences, style, stylist quirks, media, topics, changes, details, messages, etc.
2. At a given signal students pass their book to the left and examine a new book. Did students notice anything new?  How does Sis’s work with other authors compare to the work he writes and illustrates on his own? Are there any themes in his illustrations? How does he show humor?
3. Many of Sís’s illustrations convey multiple layers of meaning, particularly because they tend to depict fantastical scenes.  How did Sís use color, line, page breaks, and perspective?
1. His style is instantly recognisable: thoroughly-detailed drawings that rely on pen and ink, oil pastels, or watercolours, cross-hatching, dots, oil
2. In advance do a Google Peter Sis image search, then quickly share the images as a summary, having students note some of Sis’s characteristic traits.
2. Read The Wall, the story of Sis’s childhood and youth in Czechoslovakia. Show the book trailer  https://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=42&mid=108 and share the book again for the fullest impact. The book trailer includes visual clips of the people and places mentioned in the book. How did Sís create emotional impact through the use of color, line, page breaks, and perspective?
3. Peter Sis is a winner of The New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal, the 2015 Society of Illustrators Lifetime Achievement., three Caldecott Medal Honor Awards, a MacArthur Genius Fellowship, the Sibert Medal, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and the Golden Bear Award for Best Short Film.
4. If time permits, view one of the video clips in which he talks about his work and how he works.
1. Peter Sis Interview on Reading Rockets http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/sis
2. Peter Sis Interview for Pilot on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjWW6sOMHzA
1. “I felt like I needed to create a style that nobody else had to be sure I’d be getting more and more work. I used tiny little dots which ended up taking forever. But I kept getting work, lots of editorial for magazines and newspapers like the NY Times, Time magazine, The Atlantic and many more. I had no glasses then, that I can’t understand. I also was illustrating children’s books that other people wrote. At first I was lucky to be published at all knowing little about American childhood.”
2. “My creative process is tedious. I somehow imagine that the more detail I put in the more loved I will be. I also doodle. I have books where I layout my ideas. I can explain the whole idea this way.”

Extension from Classroom Bookshelf http://www.theclassroombookshelf.com/?s=the+pilot:

The Pilot and the Little Prince is the latest picture book biography by Sís about a noteworthy figure whose restless and adventuresome spirit helped pioneer new eras in world history. Have students read Sís’s other biographies of these people, such as Gallileo, Christopher Columbus, and Charles Darwin (see Books below). Compare and contrast how Sís frames these pioneers through his text and illustrations. How does each medium work to tell a particular kind of story about each man? After this exercise, have students write and illustrate a picture book biography about another pioneer in history, attempting to emulate Sís’s style.

Related Books: Sis as Author & Illustrator

Madlenka by Sis, Peter — Square Fish/Farrar, Straus, Giroux, c2000 p2010. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 1.3.  Madlenka, whose New York City neighbors include the French baker, the Indian news vendor, the Italian ice-cream man, the South American grocer, and the Chinese shopkeeper, goes around the block to show her friends her loose tooth and finds that it is like taking a trip around the world.

Peter Sis on Madlenka https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/madlenka.html

Teacher Guide to Peter Sis Books including the Madlenka Books http://petersis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Peter-Sis-Discussion-Guide.pdf

Dinosaur! by Sis, Peter .Board Book — Greenwillow Books, c2000 p2005. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3.  While taking a bath, a young boy is joined by all sorts of dinosaurs.

Fire truck by Sis, Peter — Greenwillow Books, 1998. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 1.5. Matt, who loves fire trucks, wakes up one morning to find that he has become a fire truck, with one driver, two ladders, three hoses, and ten boots. Features a gate-fold illustration that opens into a three-page spread.

Trucks, trucks, trucks by Sis, Peter Board Book — HarperFestival, c1999 p2004. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3. Features a gate-fold illustration that opens into a three-page spread. Presents a children's board book for early readers about a little boy who has to pick up all of his toy trucks before he and his mother can go out.

Ballerina! by Sis, Peter Board Book — HarperFestival, c2001 p2005. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 1.6. A little girl puts on costumes of different colors and imagines herself dancing on stage.

Komodo! by Sis, Peter  — Greenwillow Books, 1993. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 1.8. A child who loves dragons goes to the Indonesian island of Komodo in hopes of seeing a real dragon. Includes factual information about the Komodo dragon.

Madlenka's dog by Sis, Peter Toy/Moveable — Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2002. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 2.0. Madlenka wants a dog and doesn't care what kind it is, so long as she can put it on a leash and walk it around the block, but when her parents say no, Madlenka must use her imagination.

Teacher Guide to Peter Sis Books including the Madlenka Books http://petersis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Peter-Sis-Discussion-Guide.pdf

Robinson by Sis, Peter  — Scholastic Press, 2017. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 2.3. Robin and his friends are planning to dress up as pirates for their school's annual costume party, but instead his mother creates a Robinson Crusoe costume for him, and while the adults love it, his friends are less welcoming.

Ice cream summer by Sis, Peter — Scholastic Press, 2015. Dewey: -E-; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.0. A little boy writes a letter to his grandfather about all the reading and studying he is doing this summer--but all his activities revolve around ice cream. FREE Teaching Resources available for download from Follett.

Washington DC Book Festival 2015, Peter Sis discusses book https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=6994

The train of states by Sis, Peter — Greenwillow Books, c2004 p2007. Dewey: 973; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 3.8. Gives information about each state, including capital, motto, state tree, state bird, source of name, and date of statehood.

Peter Sis talks about the idea for Train of States https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/trainstates.html

Follow the dream by Sis, Peter — Knopf, 1991. Dewey: 970.01; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.8. Christopher Columbus overcomes a number of obstacles to fulfill his dream of sailing west to find a new route to the Orient.

Peter Sis on his Picture Book Biographies https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/explorers.html

Starry messenger : a book depicting the life of a famous scientist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, physicist, Galileo Galilei by Sis, Peter  — Farrar, Straus, Giroux, c1996 p2000. Dewey: 520; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 5.1. Describes the life and work of Galileo who changed the way people saw the galaxy by offering objective evidence that the earth was not the fixed center of the universe.

Book Reading 3:21 minutes. https://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=2568

Teacher Guide to Peter Sis Books including Starry Messenger http://petersis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Peter-Sis-Discussion-Guide.pdf

Lesson Plan from Eduscapes http://eduscapes.com/library/s/starry_messenger.htm

Peter Sis on his Picture Book Biographies https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/explorers.html

CB The pilot and the little prince : the life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery by Sis, Peter — Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, 2014. Dewey: 848; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 5.2.  Text and illustrations look at the life of French aviator and writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

Peter Sís introduces and shares some of the backstory for creating The Pilot and the Little Prince: The Life of Antoine de Saint-Exupery https://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=10906

Classroom Bookshelf Teacher Guide http://www.theclassroombookshelf.com/2014/09/the-pilot-and-the-little-prince/

Teacher Guide to Peter Sis Books including Pilot and the Little Prince http://petersis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Peter-Sis-Discussion-Guide.pdf

Tibet : through the red box by Sis, Peter — Farrar Straus Giroux, 1998. Dewey: 951; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.6. The author relates his father's experiences while lost in Tibet during the mid-1950s.

Peter Sis on Tibet Through the Red Box https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/tibet.html

The tree of life : a book depicting the life of Charles Darwin, naturalist, geologist & thinker by Sis, Peter — Farrar Straus Giroux, 2003. Dewey: 576.8; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 6.3. Presents the life of the famous nineteenth-century naturalist using text from Darwin's writings and detailed drawings by Sis.

Peter Sis on his Picture Book Biographies https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/explorers.html

Peter Sís introduces and shares some of the backstory for creating The Tree of Life https://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=7239

Discussion Guide from Be a Learning Hero https://bealearninghero.org/book/the-tree-of-life-a-book-depicting-the-life-of-charles-darwin-naturalist-geologist-thinker/

Teacher Guide to Peter Sis Books including The Tree of Life

http://petersis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Peter-Sis-Discussion-Guide.pdf

Sis as Illustrator:

The Dream Stealer by Fleischman, Sid  — Greenwillow Books, 2009.Dewey: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 3.9. A plucky Mexican girl tries to recover her dream from the Dream Stealer who takes her to his castle where countless dreams and even more adventures await.

The whipping boy by Fleischman, Sid — HarperTrophy, c1986 p2003. Dewey: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 3.9. A bratty prince and his whipping boy have many adventures when they inadvertently trade places after becoming involved with dangerous outlaws.

The midnight horse by Fleischman, Sid  — Harper Trophy, c1990 p2004. Dewey: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 4.4. Touch enlists the help of The Great Chaffalo, a ghostly magician, to thwart his great-uncle's plans to put Touch into the orphan house and swindle The Red Raven Inn away from Miss Sally.

The 13th floor : a ghost story by Fleischman, Sid — Greenwillow Books, 1995. Dewey: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.7. When his older sister disappears, twelve-year-old Buddy Stebbins follows her back in time and finds himself aboard a seventeenth-century pirate ship captained by a distant relative.

The dreamer by Ryan, Pam Munoz — Scholastic Press, 2010. Dewey: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 4.9. A fictionalized biography of the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who grew up a painfully shy child, ridiculed by his overbearing father, but who became one of the most widely-read poets in the world.  FREE Teaching Resources available for download from Follett.

The dragons are singing tonight by Prelutsky, Jack — Greenwillow Books, 1993. Dewey: 811; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 5.3. A collection of poems about dragons, including "I'm an Amiable Dragon," "If You Don't Believe in Dragons," and "A Dragon is in My Computer."

Scranimals : poems by Prelutsky, Jack  — Greenwillow Books, 2002. Dewey: 811; Int Lvl: K-3; Rd Lvl: 5.3. A series of poems leads readers through a land where vegetables, flowers, and animals are all scrambled together.

The ghost in the noonday sun by Fleischman, Sid — Greenwillow Books, c1965 p2007. Dewey: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 5.4. Twelve-year-old Oliver tries to escape from pirates who take him to an island to find the ghost and treasure of Gentleman Jack.

More stories to solve : fifteen folktales from around the world by Shannon, George — HarperTrophy, c1991 p2000. Dewey: 398.21; Int Lvl: 3-6; Rd Lvl: 5.5. Fifteen brief folktales in which there is a mystery or problem that the reader is invited to solve before the resolution is presented.

The magician's apprentice by Banks, Kate — Frances Foster Books, 2012. Dewey: -Fic-; Int Lvl: 5-8; Rd Lvl: 5.7. When sixteen-year-old Baz becomes apprentice to a powerful but kind magician, he makes a long journey across the desert and into the mountains, ultimately discovering himself by learning to dispel illusions.

Teacher Resources:

Book Trailer https://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=42&mid=108

Peter Sis on how he Got into Children’s Books https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/triptony.html

Peter Sis on his Art https://www.teachingbooks.net/slideshows/sis/onart.html

Peter Sis website http://petersis.com

Peter Sis Interview on Reading Rockets http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/sis

Peter Sis Interview for Pilot on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjWW6sOMHzA