Talking Walls: The Stories Continue

by Margy Burns Knight, Anne Sibley O'Brien

Introduces different cultures around the world by telling the stories of walls, from the Maya murals in Bonampak, Mexico, to dikes in the Netherlands

Genres: History, Picture Books, Art

40 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 1996

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this follow-up to their initial Talking Walls collection, author Margy Burns Knight and illustrator Anne Sibley O'Brien once again delve into the wealth of walls to be found, the world over, and their diverse meanings for the people who built them. From beautiful decorations (the Ndebele wall designs of South Africa, the Divali wall paintings of India) to protective/deflective capability (the walled city of Fez, Morocco, the Peace Lines of Belfast, Northern Ireland), the fourteen walls depicted here all 'speak' to something important in the history or current culture of their creators.

With a cover illustration taken from a class activity that was inspired by the initial Talking Walls book, Talking Walls: The Stories Continue is a worthy follow-up to its predecessor, covering some fascinating places and structures. I think my favorite was the Wat Po Temple in Bangkok, with its 'textbook' walls! The illustrations are colorful and full of life, and the text informative. The afterword - which includes further information about each wall depicted - offers added insight. All in all, this is an excellent picture-book for introducing young readers to the diverse peoples of the world, and is recommended especially to those readers who enjoyed the initial volume of Talking Walls !

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been available for years, and I’m really surprised that no other Goodreads member has reviewed it and that there is only one review for the original Talking Walls book.

I’ve been waiting weeks to get a copy of Talking Walls and my preference would have been to read it before this sequel, even though I suspect each book can be enjoyed completely independently. This book is due soon so I decided to go ahead and read it first.

What a wonderful way to teach about cultural differences and about history! I just loved this book. It has a “big” feel about it. The illustrations are large; the information is important.

I loved the end notes that tell a little bit more about each wall and sometimes digress, the latter most likely being one reason this text wasn’t included in the book proper, the other reason being to make the main part of the book friendlier for slightly younger children.

I love all the different types of walls that are written about and shown, and the reasons told for their existence, I love that children play a crucial role on every page. All the walls here are real and they’re really diverse, and I was fascinated to learn about the ones unfamiliar to me and took delight in seeing the ones about which I already knew.

This is a great adjunct or introduction to lessons in the subjects of history, art, cultural understanding, activism, and so many more subjects too.

The illustrations are compelling, and will appeal to children because children appear in all but one of them. No people appear in that one, except possibly as tiny figures. They’re big, bright, colorful, and informative. I loved most of them. My favorites were probably the cover illustration and the last illustration (before the end inside covers) of the children gardening and their wall.

I am now even more eager to read the first book and see what walls are included.

I almost didn’t give this 5 stars because a few of the description blurbs made me cringe with the “lessons” they were giving, but this is too much of a treasure to downgrade.

Edited to add: I read this book before I read Talking Walls and as I was writing the review for the first book, where I did list the included walls, I realized how disappointed I was that I couldn’t remember all the walls featured in the sequel. So, I borrowed this book from the library again for the purpose of going through it and listing the walls included in this book. They are: a character in A Midsummer Night's Dream pretending to be a wall, Stena Mira Peace Wall in Russia, the Friendship Wall created by 8th grade students in Union Maine U.S., a sixth grade social studies class (inspired by the book Talking Walls) repairing an apartment house wall in Indianapolis Indiana U.S., Fez walled city, Bonampak wall murals, Prayer Wheels in Tibet, Wat Po/Wat Pra Jetupon temple, Hadrian’s Wall, Kazimierz Poland Holocaust Memorial Wall, Divali/Diwali/Dipavali painted walls, Ndebele decorated walls, Hachiko wall in a Tokyo train station, Dikes in the Netherlands, Peace Lines in Belfast Ireland, Angel Island poems written by Chinese immigrants, the messges on the fence around Pablo Neruda’s home in Chile, part of the Anti-Graffiti Network: a wall mural painted on site by children who also planted a garden in a vacant lot in North Philadelphia.

[The Styling Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talking Walls – The Stories Continue by Margy Burns Knight, illustrated by Anne Sibley O’Brien – really fascinating non-fiction book about how people have placed things on walls to communicate and share opinions, hopes, etc. Fascinating to travel around the world with this book. Know that it would be really interesting for world awareness lessons and discussion… plus art extensions. Throughout the book I was tempted to go online and look at the real walls that were so beautifully illustrated in the book.

[Heather Edrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very neat book. Supposedly told by the walls in different civilizations and well known monuments around the world. Shares what the walls could have seen over the years and the stories they could tell.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A continuation of the first Talking Walls book.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the way this book shows change over time and uses primary sources to show different cultures all over the world

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book about walls from around the world. Very multicultural - good for geography.

[Tracie Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is great. I will be using it in my 6th grade social studies class next year.