The Other Side of the Wall

January 19, 2015
In Watkinson’s graceful translation, German author-illustrator Schwartz charts each painful step of his parents’ departure from East Germany. Black-and-white panels set amid the grim institutional architecture of post-WWII East Berlin record the courtship of Schwartz’s focused father and artistic mother, who meet as university students and, despite their differences, realize that they’re attracted to one another. “You’re in the church?” he asks disbelievingly; just as disbelievingly, she counters, “You’re in the party?” When the two begin to spend time with dissidents, and the state apparatus starts to close around them, they apply for an exit permit. But their departure is blocked, and Schwartz describes with anguish
the family’s alienation from his father’s parents and its persecution by the Stasi, the East German secret police. The story suffers somewhat from the way Schwartz shuffles back and forth between the
family’s time pre- and post-emigration; it’s not always clear what’s happening when. Complex political undercurrents demand a lot from readers, too, but Schwartz’s smart, probing account makes this piece of history matter. Ages 12–up. (Mar.) ■

January 1, 2015

Gr 6 Up-In the opening pages of this graphic memoir, the author as a young child realizes that his neighbors and relatives are not free to move around. They live on the eponymous other side of the wall. Schwartz shares his story growing up in West Berlin and that of his parents' lives in East Berlin as they grow increasingly disillusioned with the communist government of East Germany and face great resistance to their desire to immigrate. Depicted in black and white with a realistic style that portrays a grim history without being overly stark, this graphic novel shares an important view of recent history. Likely to have greatest resonance with high schoolers, this book would be appropriate for middle school as well. While it might appeal most to adults with personal memories of a communist empire, Schwartz's work is also a fantastic supplement to traditional textbooks. A good addition to school and public libraries looking to add diversity to their teen or secondary education graphic novel collections.-Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2015
Grades 4-7 The Cold War tension represented by the Berlin Wall likely still has some real estate in the German psyche today, but it might still be rather remote to most American readers. Schwartz's multiple-award winner (in his native Germany) will go some way toward remedying that. Schwartz recalls his parents' struggle to make a life in Communist East Berlin and, eventually, to immigrate to the democratic west side of the wall, at the cost of careers, friends, and family. The complex politics are set aside in favor of a narrative that captures the desperation of adults caught in an oppressive society and the confusion of a young child seeing it through the prism of family. Schwartz's black-and-white cartooning abets this simpler, emotionally resonant style with large, minimalist faces that powerfully express feelings, while realistic backgrounds give an underlying sense of authenticity. This slim volume typifies the format's great strength in this area, which is not to deliver hard facts but to bring the human face of history off the page and into readers' hearts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2015
Schwartz's graphic memoir chronicles his parents' upbringing in East Germany, their growing discomfort with the oppression there, and--after his birth--their struggle to leave. It's an honest family portrait, with poignant details about his father's strained relationship with his parents, staunch communists. Schwartz jumps back and forth in time, sometimes confusingly, but his grim palette of black, white, and gray is fitting.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)