Why do people insist on building barriers and what are the benefits versus disadvantages? There’s a way to find out!
Award-winning journalist and writer Gregor Craigie shares the fascinating history of human-built barriers in his latest nonfiction book for kids, Walls: The Long History of Human Barriers and Why We Build Them.
Aimed at middle-grade children, Walls challenges young readers to think critically about why humans have built walls throughout history.
They’re encouraged to dive into the realities of who is affected as well as the positive and negative consequences for people and places when walls are used.
“People have built walls to keep others out for thousands of years, from the Great Wall of China to Hadrian’s Wall to security fences along the US-Mexico border,” a media release reads.
“But did you know they’ve also been built to keep people in, to grow food, to control nature and to collect taxes?”
Walls was released on March 12th by island-based publishing company, Orca Book Publishers—an independently owned children’s book publisher of award- winning, bestselling books in a number of genres.
This publication is the latest addition to the Orca Timeline series that is dedicated to the exploration of how big ideas have shaped humanity.
Combined with Craigie’s insightful words is the wonderfully imaginative art from illustrator Arden Taylor—who specializes in colourful digital architectural design.
Complementary to Walls, Craigie’s first book for children is titled Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Temples, Towers and Skyscrapers. It was shortlisted for the Norma Fleck Award.
In addition to this, he’s written novels for adults too, such as On Borrowed Time: North America’s Next Big Quake—which was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy and the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize.
