Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

• author & illustrator:  Marjane Satrapi  http://www.marjanesatrapi.com/
• medium:  ink
• year of publication: 2003
• city of publication: New York, NY
• publisher: Pantheon
• ISBN:  0-375-42230-7

Annotation: Follow Marjane Satrapi from ages six to fourteen growing up in Iran.  She witnesses the revolution and the nation transitions from a modern westernize state to a fundamentalist Islamic state. 

Personal Thoughts: Finally I've read the famed Persepolis.  It was complex, political, and intelligent, but it was also funny and cool.  When I read Marjane wears punk rock fashion during the eighties, I knew that not all people living under the fundamentalist Muslim Iran, chose life that way.  Many wanted to go back to a more free time, like before the fall of the Shah.  I really liked the historical and political aspects of this book and it really taught me a lot about growing up in Iran, but I worry that it may be too advanced for students below tenth grade.  I didn't even consider Iran when I was thirteen.  But Persepolis would be a good tool for seeing life under religious fundamentalism.

***Curriculum Connection - 10th grade Civic/World History, Iranian Revolution, Religious Fundamentalism, Fundamentalist Muslim Societies