Persepolis

Author: Marjane Satrapi

Illustrator: Marjane Satrapi

Peach's Picks Rating:

Year of publication: 2003

City of publication: New York

Publisher: Pantheon Books

ISBN: 0-375-42230-7

Author website: No website available. Information about the author can be found at Pantheon Books website http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/persepolis.html

Illustrator website: See "Author website" entry.

Media used for illustrations: Back and white drawings that are panel comic book style art resembling wood-cut, direct and flat with no shading, reflective of artwork created by 10-14 year-old child (main character’s age)

Annotation: Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographic graphic novel of her experiences from the ages of 10-14. Satrapi, the great-granddaughter of Iran’s last emperor, describes her early adolescence in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution.

Personal reaction to the book: The reader meets Marjane Satrapi in 1979 as a 10-year-old girl growing up in Tehran, Iran where she leads a relatively carefree life. Her great-grandfather was Iran’s last emperor. She is the only child of radical Marxist parents. She attends a co-ed French school and dresses in Western styles. Life quickly changes as war begins raging around her, touching her nuclear family, extended family, friends, neighborhood, and country. Schools become single-sex. Girls and women are forced to wear veils. Many women opt to wear chadors, either for religious reasons or to remain safe from the wrath of religious zealots. At the age of 14, Satrapi’s parents send her to boarding school in Austria where they feel she will live and learn more safely. She shows this time in her life as an interesting juxtaposition of adolescent rebellion and yearnings, against the terrors of the Islamic fundamentalist rise to power in Iran. Satrapi’s comments are wry, funny, and poignant, showing that humans continue to carry on with life in the face of adversity. The author’s introduction helps frame the historical context of her story. The book is divided into chapters with each chapter title foreshadowing events to come. The dialogue is presented in bubble-text with the narration presented in rectangular blocks. Satrapi’s illustrations are drawn in clean, stark, cartoon-like black-and-white panels. Through the illustrations and text she manages to portray life’s humor as well as the terrors she encounters on a daily basis. Especially horrific scenes are illustrated with strong swirling lines. Readers will enjoy this book as a graphic novel, identify with Marjane and her friends’ adolescent antics and struggles, and learn about Iran’s history in this beautifully presented graphic novel.

Curricular connections:

• Biographies
• Marjane Satrapi
• History / Iran
• Author/illustrators
• Graphic novels
• Use in conjunction with the Maus books by Art Spiegelman

Recommended grade levels:
School Library Journal recommends this book for high school and adult readers

Booklist recommends this book for young adult readers

Peach’s Picks recommends this book for grades 9 and up

Awards/Recognitions:
Library Journal starred review

Publishers Weekly starred review

Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for First Comic Book, 2001
Prix Alph'art Coup de Coeur (beginning comic artist award), 2001

Prix du Lion, Belgian Center for Comic Strips, 2001

Notes: This book was selected from "The Top Ten Favorites List / Summer Session 2009", San Jose State University, School of Library and Information Science, LIBR 271A, Genres & Topics in Youth Literature, Professor Partington. The book was originally published in France by L'Association. English translation Blake Ferris and Mattias Ripa. This book applies to the assignment criteria – nonfiction graphic novel.

Symbolism: Page 43; A dragon encircles the family’s living room showing that political danger is present

Symbolism: Page 125; Khosro shown standing in a snow scene with pine trees, next to a snowman. Khosro is wearing a Nordic style sweater and ski cap. This illustrations symbolizes that Khosro escaped to Sweden safely.

Onomatopoeia: Page 117; “Kofff! Kofff! Kofff!

Book cover picture retrieved from: http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/persepolis.html