The Wall by Peter Sis

Through the wonderful and insightful illustrations of Peter Sis, we learn about growing up in Czechoslovakia, author's homeland under Soviet Union dominance during the Cold War. Life in the country was dictated by the rules imposed by the communist Soviet Union. Whole generations of children were raised to be pioneers, members of the communist youth movement. Society as a whole had to compulsorily  follow certain sets of beliefs that were imposed and were never supposed to be questioned.  The world outside the Iron Curtain was represented as evil. without really giving people a realistic picture of what is going on outside. People were not free to leave the country and did not have freedom of speech in any sphere of life. I myself grew in communist country that luckily did not belong to the Eastern block and was not under the  strong and the dominating influence of Russia. That is one of the reasons I can emphasize with the author. My society also was happily living in one sort of propaganda emanated by the communist government but we were free to leave the country and travel.
However, we never knew to which extent life in the Eastern block was controlled and dominated by communist party and its demagogy.  This book definitely makes me curious to find out about the life in Czech republic in the Cold war period.
I would initiate discussion in the classroom on the  activities that were compulsory in the Czechoslovakia during the  Soviet leadership.  We would talk about activities that are compulsory for students at home and in the school.  Certain books, and music was prohibited too during that period.  I would have student talk about possible reasons that they think this happen.  We would talk about events that happened in the world that students think have had impact on them.  I would have students express their understanding of Peter's life in communist Czechoslovakia the way they feel it in their drawings.