1. Allegory
2. Book design
3. Compassion
4. Deception
5. Detention centres
6. Empathy
7. Fables
8. Fantasy
9. Friendship
10. Hope
11. Imagination
12. Isolation
13. Literary techniques
14. Loneliness
15. Refugees
16. Resilience
17. War

Suri lives in a place that appears to be an orphanage. Suri stands out because she is tall. She feels isolated and lonely. One day Suri discovers she can see over the wall that surrounds this place. The other children ask Suri to describe the world beyond the wall. Suri describes a fantastical place with a golden bridge, lush green grass and a harbour filled with majestic ships. Her storytelling is wonderful. Gradually the children respond to Suri and her stories. The other children become her friends. Over two double wordless spreads filled with vibrant colour and scenes like fairytales, we share Suri’s imaginative storytelling with giant towering trees and an enormous circus tent with clowns, an elephant, stilt walkers and a wild tiger. One day the children hear loud bangs outside. Should Suri really describe what she can see? Perhaps, but not today.

The real world and fantasy one from Suri’s imagination are easy to identify through the page design. The real-world scenes use rope to frame the text while Suri’s story world is shown in bright colours over full pages. The endpapers take the reader right up to the stone wall. The cover illustration continues on the first page of the book so readers can see the entire wall from the eastern gate to the western building. The font used for the title is repeated at the beginning of each page reminiscent of an illuminated letters from a medieval manuscript. The way Suri touches the wall links with the tactile debossed title on the cover. Readers can decide for themselves why the wall is there or how Suri came to be behind the wall.

1. Penguin Study Notes/Activities for Teacher https://resource.scholastic.com.au/resourcefiles/8379991_37603.pdf
2. CopyrightAgency Reading Australia, Teacher Resource for ‘Suri’s Wall’ by Lucy Estela https://readingaustralia.com.au/books/suris-wall/
3. Lucy Estela author website http://lucyestela.com/suris-wall/
4. Lucy Estela website Origins http://lucyestela.com/origins/
5. Lucy Estela website Beginnings http://lucyestela.com/suriswall-beginnings/
6. Lucy Estela website Designs http://lucyestela.com/suriswall-designs/
7. Lucy Estela website Bindings http://lucyestela.com/suriswall-bindings/
8. New South Wales Government Teaching Notes, English, Stage 2 Years 3-4 https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/media/documents/SPaRK_English_Suris-Wall_35-3.pdf
9. The Bottom Shelf review by Barbara Braxton of ‘Suri’s Wall’, 27 Oct 2015 https://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/2015/10/27/suris-wall/
10. Momo celebrating time to read Blog by Momo about ‘Suri’s Wall’, 25 Apr 2016 http://momotimetoread.blogspot.com/2016/04/suris-wall-by-lucy-estela-illustrated.html