About the book: The book is a graphic memoir that illustrates Marjane Satrapi’s understanding of her childhood in Iran during the 70’s and 80’s. She tells about the history of the leaderships of Iran over the centuries. She is the great granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors and her parents are Marxist revolutionaries. As she grows and goes to school she learns about things that are forbidden in public and the laws that are put into place for females. She struggles to understand the radical viewpoints. Her fascination with the changing social order and governmental leaders is shared. She has family and friends’ family members that are imprisoned for standing up for their beliefs against the Shah. She talks about living during bombings and missiles from Iraq being sent into her neighborhood. She learns that if she gets captured for her rebellion against the religious government of Iraq she would be married off and would have to have sex with the man before she could be executed. Her need to speak her mind and beliefs at school prompts her parents to send her to live with a family friend in Vienna, Austria for her safety.
Readers Response: I learned a lot about the history of Iran that I did not know from reading Persepolis memoir about her life. I struggled to understand parts of the book because of my lack of knowledge about the middle east. This book would be an excellent support for a unit on the middle east in Social Studies classes. Teacher would be able to bring the history to the students in a fun and informative way. Of course other materials or websites would need to be add to help in the full understanding of that region.
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund article about Using Graphic Novels in Education featuring Persepolis: http://cbldf.org/2013/06/using-graphic-novels-in-education-persepolis/
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