Sam has to share a room with his disruptive and all-around undesirable big brother, and he is not happy about it. One night, when Sam hears about the president’s plans to build a border wall, it inspires what Sam thinks is a perfectly reasonable solution to his own problem: he needs to build a wall, too.

Told as a series of letters addressed to the president, the story shows Sam working through his thoughts and feelings about his plan to build a dividing wall in his bedroom. He debates pros and cons, learns about other walls built through the ages, and slowly comes around to a new perspective as he begins to see that the best solutions involve communication, compromise, and negotiating ways to make things work.

With an undertone of subtle humor, this story is at once a simple tale about a common gripe of siblinghood and a modern fable sure to spark conversations about tolerance, learning to live with others, and the importance of recognizing other points of view.

SOPHIE SIERS is a lifelong reader and children's book author who lives in Waimarama, New Zealand.

Sophie Siers' profile page

Anne Villeneuve has written and illustrated close to 40 books, created games for magazines, illustrated for newspapers and designed cake boxes for a bakery. Over the years, her work has earned her many distinguished recognitions, such as the Governor General's Literary Award and the Québec/Wallonie-Bruxelles Literary Award in 2000, the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award in 2005 and 2009, and the Mr. Christie's Book Award in 1998.

Anne Villeneuve's profile page

"With economic, wry prose and stylish, observant watercolor and ink cartooning, Siers and Villeneuve offer readers ripped-from-the-headlines proof that the political is indeed personal."

Publishers Weekly

"A good lesson in using communication and compromise to solve problems and not being afraid to admit mistakes."

School Library Journal