The Wall: A Timeless Tale

Told as a dialogue between a willful king and a tactful servant, this fable from an Italian team looks at what happens when a country shuts out people who don’t look like others. “How did so many different people end up in my kingdom?” the monarch complains, before ordering the servant to “banish everyone who doesn’t look like me.” Married illustrators Sacco and Vallarino populate their spreads with hundreds of small faces all crowded together. At first, they’re a rainbow of colors—a fine representation of diversity. The king and his servant, seen among the throng, are blue; after the ban, mostly blue faces remain on one side of the page, divided in some spreads from the colorful group by a pop-up wall. “Build a wall to make them stay out of my kingdom!” the king says. “Most Magnificent Majesty,” the servant counters, “you already sent the wall builders away.” Readers will see before the doltish king does that it takes a diverse populace to create the richness of edifices, art, and science the king desires. Macri and Zanotti (We Are All Dots) make it clear that shutting people out only weakens a kingdom, and they do it with laughter, not argument. Ages 7–9. [em](July) [/em]