The Wall: A Timeless Tale (Happy Fox Books) A Children's Picture Book About the Benefits of Diversity, How We Thrive When We Work Together, and the Damage That Can Be Done by Barriers Between Us

by Giancarlo Macrì, Carolina Zanotti, Elisa Vallarino (Illustrator)

Wonderful things can be accomplished when people come together! That's the important lesson to be found inside The Wall : In this poignant and timely story, a king banishes anyone who is different from him and has a wall built to keep them out of his kingdom. Soon, he sees that without people with various types of talents and expertise, his realm can no longer flourish! Realizing his mistake, he orders the wall to be knocked down so he can meet and thank all the talented people that make his community beautiful. With engaging illustrations packed with fun thumbprint faces, a pop-up wall, and an important lesson about diversity that's relevant to the world today, The Wall will help children see how a society can be harmed when barriers are built, but thrive when everyone works together. From the same authors of the popular children's books We Are All Dots and Mario and the Aliens , Giancarlo Macri and Carolina Zanotti provide more tender wisdom in The Wall , along with the colorful visual aid of illustrators Mauro Sacco and Elisa Vallarino. "A clever ebb and flow of colors and shapes that will have young readers, as well as the king, quickly seeing the errors of exclusionary ways."
—Foreword Reviews " The A Timeless Tale is a joyful celebration of diversity, bar none!
—Storywraps

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Giancarlo Macrì is an actor, musician, and the founding member of the Italian theatrical ensemble Banda Osiris. He regularly appears on television and composes and records music. He has received many prestigious awards including the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear and the David di Donatello.

Reviews

[Κόκκινη Αλεπού · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το πολύχρωμο Τείχος των Ιταλών Μακρί, Τζανότι, Σάκο και Βαλαρίνο είναι ένας ύμνος στην ανεκτικότητα και την αποδοχή του διαφορετικού και μια υπενθύμιση πως τα τείχη μόνο δημιουργούν προβλήματα, αντί να τα λύνουν. Χρησιμοποιώντας το εύρημα του αναδιώμενου τείχους στη ράχη του βιβλίου, οι δημιουργοί του δίνουν πραγματική υπόσταση στο τείχος αυτό που στήνει ο μισαλλόδοξος βασιλιάς και που διαχωρίζει τα μπλε από όλα τα υπόλοιπα άτομα. Μόνο που το τείχος αυτό θα πέσει όταν πια ο βασιλιάς συνειδητοποιήσει την αναγκαιότητα όλων των ατόμων σε μια κοινωνία. Σύμβολο διαχωρισμού ιστορικά (τείχος του Βερολίνου, τείχος του Μεξικού, τείχος στον Εβρο, τείχος που χωρίζει την Πολωνία από τη Λευκορωσία, τη Βόρεια από τη Νότιο Κορέα, το Ισραήλ από την Παλαιστίνη, κλπ), το Τείχος των Μάκρι και Τζανότι είναι πράγματι μια διαχρονική ιστορία (όπως αναφέρεται και στην ελληνική έκδοση), αλλά και μια υπενθύμιση πως όσα τείχη κι αν χτιστούν, η πρόοδος στις κοινωνίες θα έρθει μόνο όταν κοινότητες διαφορετικών ατόμων συναντηθούν, συνδιαλλαγούν, ανταλλάξουν ιδέες και γνώσεις και τελικά αποδεχτούν η μια την άλλη.

[Isabelle Venditti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quelle belle histoire pour faire comprendre aux enfants qu’on a besoin de tout le monde dans une société, et ce, même si les personnes sont différentes de nous !

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A King surveys his kingdom and sees that there are "lots of people who don't look like me". he doesn't like this, so he banishes them and builds a wall to keep them out. He then finds he needs different people to build and create things in his kingdom, so they slowly return, with the King eventually appreciating his talented, multi-cultural society.

This book encapsulates the problem of racism and cleverly physically represents it via a literal wall that pops up in the book. It is not perfect. My Year 5/6 students were very quick to notice that the King never admits that he was wrong and still only values people because they are useful to him/giving him something he wants, not to mention the generalisation of one type of people being needed for a specific task. But it is a good visual representation and a starting point for discussion about these issues.

[Meredith Spidel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautifully done. Without exploring political implications, the important messages of diversity and acceptance are well imparted to young readers, and my children enjoy this book!

[Algernon · Rating 2 out of 5]

“How did so many different people end up in my kingdom?” asks a king portrayed as a blue, bearded head.

A mustachioed advisor answers, “Your most marvelous majesty, it’s been a long time since you left your castle. All of these people live here now.”

Thus opens “The Wall,” a 2018 children’s book by Giancarlo Macrì and Carolina Zanotti.

The story purportedly offers parents a simple allegory, accompanied by beautiful art, as a way to begin talking with children about border walls, be they China’s, Hadrian’s or Donald Trump’s.

“Banish everyone who doesn’t look like me!” orders the king, surrounded by a cacophony of unique faces dappled in various colors, like a bag of Skittles spilled across every page.

Halfway through the book, a laminated wall pops up, with the little blue faces on one side and various other colors repatriated (in a bloodless ethnic cleansing) to the other side.

The first problem is embedded in the plot structure. The king needs the red faces to come back because they are the “wall builders,” and then he wants gardeners so he calls for the green faces to come back, and because he desires scientific research the purple faces must be readmitted, and so on.

While it is sweet that the king comes to appreciate different kinds of people regardless of what they look like, this does not reach the theory of human value expressed in the Declaration of Independence that all people are equal and — indifferent to their utility to the powerful — are endowed with self-evident rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Nor does it broach the function of legal status in an exploitative economy.

There is also the obvious flaw in assigning particular aptitudes to classes, or colors, of people. Eventually he comes to view them as valuable, exclaiming, “How nice to see so many talented people in our kingdom!”

Yet they still live under monarchy, and here we arrive at a wider problem: how to inculcate democratic values in simple moral fables, when republican governance, division of labor and structures of social control are complex.

It is easy to understand why storytellers use kings to personify state power, but it does not help explain the unique ways democracies fail to liberate all those colorful dots so their lives truly become their own.

The artistic design of the book, by Mauro Sacco and Elisa Vallarino, is lovely yet the story’s central analogy requires a parental warning against ethnic stereotyping. Even then, its applicability to the politics of Trump’s border wall is remote.


There is no suggestion that many of those dots were present on that land before the blue “kingdom” was founded; nor a hint that the dot-people, despite the riotous mix of colors they represent, share class interests that conflict with those who erect walls and battlements.

I admit this is much more difficult to produce as a story for children; and “The Wall” is, at least, a well-intentioned fable about appreciating diversity.

It may not explain much about why borders are useful to capital or the system’s historical arc, or introduce much about how contemporary nation-states and their governing political parties preserve them, but this creative team may be up for that challenge one day.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wall: A Timeless Tale by Giancarlo Macri and Carolina Zanotti, illustrated by Mauro Sacco and Elisa Vallarino. PICTURE BOOK. Happy Fox Books, 2019. $17. 9781641240383

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

The king is upset because there are so many different people in his kingdom – why don’t they all look like him? They try t sort out his people, but he has to bring a few of them back to build the wall he sees as a final solution. But after the wall, he wants a garden, and then a fountain, and so on, until he realizes he needs more space and that the wall is in the way and it must come down.

Adults will find this a fine poke at extreme nationalism, but children will easily realize how silly it is to only want people around you who look exactly like you. A great discussion starter.

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have liked for this book to have been a useful metaphor to talk with a child about the cruelty, foolishness, and malice of Trump's wall near the Mexican border, but this book fell far short of being a useful conversation starter. The King misses the subjects who look different from him only for their utility to him, not because of any message about their innate value. And the illustrations were really problematic...the subjects forced to the other side of the wall don't look distressed or angry or suffering in any way. So...meh. It's not bad, per se; it's just...meh. Visually interesting, at least. But the message felt really shallow at best and problematic at worst.

[Arminzerella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A king who is out of touch with the people of his kingdom decrees that anyone who doesn't look like him has to leave. When they are slow to go, he has a wall built to keep them out. This requires having the builders return. Then, when the king wants a garden, the gardeners are allowed to return. And so on and so forth until it is so very crowded on the kingdom side of the wall that the king has it torn down, congratulating himself on his brilliant idea. He then goes out into throng to meet his people - finally - and get to know them better. The different peoples are color-coded by whatever occupation/useful service they provide to the kingdom. Conversation starters are included at the back of the book for parents to use with their children to talk about the wall and the problems it created for the people and the king after it was built. Timely, considering the current administration's obsession with building a wall between the US and Mexico, and all of its disturbing restrictions on travel, immigration, and asylum-seekers. While this book does not touch on those issues specifically, it may help introduce them to a younger audience.

[Juliana Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The King decides that his kingdom is too crowded and he sees too many people who don't look like him, so he has a wall built to separate the people who look like him from the rest of the people. But he soon wants a garden built near the wall and has to invite the gardeners back. Then he wants roads and a monument and a fountain, and a tower. Little by little he invites back the engineers, and artists, and fountain builders. Soon his side of the wall is even more crowded than it was before while the other side of the wall is sparsely populated. Eventually the king wants the wall taken down and walks among all the people living in his kingdom complimenting their many talents. At the end of the book there are conversation starters about famous walls built around the world and how people might feel on either side of a wall.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to do this for a storytime and see if I can help change anyone's mind. Hmm. So much trouble and vexation right now in our country. And our children are being shown so much that is not love. It troubles me.

Okay, on to this book. It is a bit preachy and a bit long. And calling itself a "Timeless Tale" seems a bit of a stretch. If you have to label yourself that, then you may not be that. Why not let others give you applause and accolades? Isn't that better? Unless, you are being secretly snarky? Maybe? Not sure here.

[Lisa Burris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a not-so-subtle metaphor for our current political state. The king, who hardly leaves his castle, is appalled to find that so many people from so many different countries have come into his kingdom. He doesn't want to see anyone who doesn't look like him, so he banishes those who are not like him and builds a wall to keep them out. What he finds, though, is that the people he needs to actually construct his wall, then an accompanying garden, then a fountain, then a tower, are all the people he has banished. I won't give away the ending, but let's just say it's a happy one.

[Lynn Schlatter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one didn't work for me, for two reasons:

1) The main theme seemed to be that a multicultural society is desirable because of the talents various people have, as opposed each person's intrinsic value as a human being.

2) Several of the visual choices, like the inclusion of an actual cut-out wall, seemed either gimmicky or problematic to me. I especially disliked that each group that came back to the kingdom to fulfill a particular purpose had the same color faces. So, in order to build a tower, you just need a bunch of brown people? Yikes!

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really think this breaks down metaphorical barriers so much as it's just a story about a silly king who builds a wall, but then all the people who are capable of building gardens, roads, and statues don't look like him, so they come back and build those things out of... themselves? A little weird. I found humor in the king not realizing that he ended up exactly where he started only liking the different people instead of disliking them.

[Kathleen Rak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thought provoking, timely story about a king and the people of his kingdom. The king only wants those that are like him in his world and yet when he requires work to beautify his world, it turns out those who are like him may not have the skills. Parent/caregiver questions at the end help to extend the stories lessons and encourage family engagement.

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book basically reinforces the idea that when you divide people into groups, separating those who aren't like you, it only creates weakness and loss. A look at some current political issues without the politics. This story would create great discussion and debate with children and adults of all ages.

[Erin]

This seemed a bit more direct than Dear Mr President. But in essentials, it's another story that tries to help grownups have a conversation about "A Wall" without necessarily getting into the nitty-gritty of the politics of "The Wall."

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very simply written but has a lot of potential for use in the classroom. Year 6 used it this year with a discussion of the purpose of walls, some even talking on the ideas of metaphorical walls. They then wrote poetry about a wall, finally transferring their poem to a net of a brick to make a physical wall in their classroom.

[Carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A timely tale. A king bans everyone in the kingdom who doesn't look like himself to the other side of a wall, but then laments that there's a lack of variety of skills and one by one invites elements of the population back to his side of the wall. While I appreciate the basic message here, it would be nice if there was value in the other people besides their trade skills.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book apparently accidentally links certain jobs to certain ethnicities/appearances.

I'd prefer if instead of saying we need builders, so we need to invite these people back, it said we don't have ENOUGH experienced builders, so we need to invite these people back.

[Laela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sorry that in this day and age we still need a book like this.

[Kate Buechler]

The formatting of this book was interesting and unique.

[Cassaundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book with a universal message.

[charlene.librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, in this day and age, this book is as relevant as ever. I do like the green, one-eyed monster search on every page. I couldn't help but look for it myself.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very important idea that we should all teach and think about

[Keriann's Picture Book Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nifty gimmick

[Kristen Thorp · Rating 4 out of 5]

307/365

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An elementary and up picture book about a king building a wall tos eperate himself from others whoa re not like him. Will this be a good strategy? Nicely illustrated.

[Andrea Northam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teaches kids the economic consequences of being protectionist and building a wall to keep out people who don't look like you. Hmm. Timely.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good one for kids and government officials.

[Christine Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and fun book. Makes its point and is so creative with the illustrations and pop-up feature. Finding the alien was fun too. No coincidence it's an alien, I'm guessing