Persepolis:  The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi.  New York:  Pantheon Books, 2003.  ISBN 0-375-42230-7

Top 10

A young girl grows up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and gives a child’s view of the accounts she witnessed in graphic novel format.

         

          Media:  Black Ink

          Q4/P4

          7-12^th

 

          Curricular Connection:  Geography, History, Language Arts.

          Literary Devices:  Personification is used when the the Shah says, “I am the light of the Aryans…”

 

D. Balestreri added to PB 7/25/09

 

TOP TEN

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, ill. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.

ISBN: 0375422307

Annotation: This graphic novel tells the autobiographical story of a young girl growing up in Iran during the 1970’s and 1980’s. She once lived in luxury, but  now experiences life through time of war. The story is told through her child eyes, including the brutality that war brings with her independent spirit which results in both pride and fear by her parents for her wellbeing during these dangerous times.

Media: pen and ink

Curricular Connections: geography, world history, autobiography

Rating: 5Q/5P

RAC 7.21.09

 

 

Citation:  The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Marjane Satrapi, ill.  New York:  Pantheon Books, 2003.

One of my Top 10 selections

ISBN: 978-0-375-71483-2

Annotation: Satrapi discusses her life during the Shah and after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. She writes about the torture of her uncle, the oppression of the veil, and her path to self-discovery.

Media: Pen and Ink graphic novel format

Personal Rating: 5Q/5P

Curricular Connections:  This is an excellent book for High School students to learn about the history Iran.  It is a good source for teaching about primary sources.  This is Satrapi’s first person account about the Islamic regime, the Iran-Iraq War, and the loss of political freedom.  It is a good choice for a discussion on politics and women’s rights.  It is also an excellent resource for an English class. Students can read Satrapi’s autobiography and compare it to other sources written about Iran. Students can also write their own autobiographies and read other first person accounts of war and compare them such as Anne Frank’s Diary. Students can read the sequel to Persepolis which chronicles her life in Austria, her return to Iran, her marriage, and her decision to leave Iran and move to France.  They can also watch the movie, which came out in 2007.

Grade Level or Age Range: High School Students

Themes: Satrapi wrote this book to show Westerners that there is more to Iran than the stereotype of a country founded on “fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism” and that Iran is “ great civilization.” She says, “I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists.”  The theme of fundamentalism is seen when she shows the devastation that a repressive government can bring. There is also the theme of the cost of war.  Satrapi wants readers to remember the sacrifice made for freedom.  She says we should remember, “those Iranians who lost their lives in prison defending freedom, who died in the war against Iraq, who suffered under various repressive regimes, or who were forced to leave their families… One can forgive but one should never forget.”   There is also the autobiographical theme because it is Satrapi’s life story.  The coming of age theme and rebellion theme are also there. Marjane goes from innocence to experience as she experiences the devastation of war.  She rebels against the Islamic regime.  There is the theme of individuality and the theme of being a powerful woman as well.  Marjane is an outspoken girl who has strong opinions about the repressive government and its attitude to women.  She believes that women should be free and have a good education.  She rebels against the veil.

Sophisticated Language:  Satrapi effectively uses the graphic novel format and structures her story in chapters.  She begins with the chapter on “The Veil” and ends with “The Dowry.”  She also includes footnotes to explain political terms and her introduction provides historical background.  She clearly explains the political situation in Iran in a sophisticated and appealing manner that teenagers would understand. She never talks down to her audience but asks them to think about difficult themes such as war and personal responsibility. Her writing style is also witty, direct, and clear. She writes in first person and her voice is a quirky blend of powerfully held opinions and childlike innocence. Teenagers will be able to relate to Satrapi’s rebellious voice. 

Artwork: Satrapi uses the graphic novel format and she has a cartoon style.  She uses black and white pen and ink drawings.  What makes her unique is that she juxtaposes very cute drawings with difficult political subject matter such as wearing the veil, the torture of her uncle, and the Iran-Iraq War.  Her style is also very graphic and geometric.  She uses line and repetition to create dramatic effect such as when she repeats the image of all the little girls at her school wearing the veil.  She draws the characters from different perspectives to show emotion.  She draws herself cowering and shows two veiled women who are spies towering over her.  Her dialogue is blunt and direct which is a wonderful mix with the straightforward illustrations.

By: Joanne Maher July 23rd, 2009

 

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi. Paris: L'Association, 2003.

 

Summary: Satrapi tells the story of her childhood amidst the cultural revolution of Iran.

 

Rating: 5Q, 3P

 

ISBN: 037571457X

 

Medium: Pen/ink

 

Curricular Opportunities: 

• Excellent for World History curriculum

 

Age Group: Middle/High School

 

Potential Obstacles: Politically charged 

 

E.K. 7/1/09

 

 

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi. NY: Random House Books, 2003. ISBN: 0-375-71457-X

 

Persepolis is a graphic novel that provides a bridge for American youth to see the life of a very quirky Iranian girl. Through revolutions, demonstrations and bombing of her town she and her family press on and refuse to stop enjoying their life. Illustrations are done in a child-like style solely in black and white.This book would be beneficial for a history class grades 6-8 as well and world history classes in high school. It breaks down the stereotypes that all Iranians are fanatical and believe women should wear veils.

-Christina Gendron

 

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books.

 

Submitted by Amanda Melilli 4/18/08

 

 

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis: the story of a childhood. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0375422307 5Q/3P

Summary: A little girl growing up in Iran, Marjane experienced the fall of the Shah and the rise of fundamentalist Islam. Air attacks, the disappearance of her uncle, and the veil were part of her childhood. So was Iron Maiden.

Media: Pen and ink.

Curricular connections: Grades 9-12. History, politics, memoir.

 

KEM 4/21/08

 

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. New York: Pantheon, 2003. ISBN 0-375-71457-X

 

 

 

Marjane Satrapi illustrates her life as a young girl (6-14) coming of age under the Islamic Revolution and war with Iraq. Negotiating changing expectations for women and life under a fundamentalist regime, she explores these issues through a child’s voice.

 

 

Black and white comic strip images.

 

Website for movie out February 2008:

http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/persepolis/

 

 

Curriculum Connections

English/Language Arts

Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs

Social Studies

Women's Studies

 

Diane Mahan

 

Partington 267: Spring 2008

 

English

 

 

 

Content Standards and Instructional Practices Grades Nine Through Twelve

 

 

 

Ninth and Tenth Grade English-Language Arts Standards

 

 

 

http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/rlafw.pdf

 

 

 

Students combine the rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description to produce texts of at least 1,500 words each. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.

 

 

 

Using the writing strategies of grades nine and ten outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students:

 

 

 

2.1 Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories:

 

 

 

a. Relate a sequence of events and communicate the significance of the events to audience.

 

b. Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.

 

c. Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters’ feelings.

 

d. Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate changes in time and mood.

 

e. Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.

 

 

 

 

 

Grade Level:

 

 

 

Students: 9^th/10^th grade English

 

High-engagement reading materials

 

High-engagement writing activities

 

Building a Foundation of Knowledge:

 

 

 

Graphic Autobiographical Narrative Reading List:

 

 

 

Inside Out: Portrait of an Eating Disorder by Nadia Shivack

 

Blankets by Craig Thompson

 

The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom

 

Epileptic by David B.

 

One! Hundred! Demons! by Lynda Barry

 

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

 

Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi

 

 

 

Thesis and Synthesis: Reading

 

 

 

Reading Log for Narrative Elements:

 

 

 

1. Each book examines a powerful event (or a series of events in a turning point) in the author/illustrators’ lives. Identify the event in each book.

 

2. Create a simple timeline of the major events for each book. Which books illustrate a short period of time, and which books cover a larger span?

 

3. In each of the stories, major issues are symbolized by images. For example, in Epileptic, epilepsy is shown as a dragon-like monster. What are the dominant symbols, images, and motifs in each book and what do they represent?

 

4. How is interior monologue used in graphic novels? What are some common devices used when showing what a character is thinking inside? (Please give examples)

 

5. Mood in conveyed through color, lines, and sketching. Take two distinct panels from each story and analyze the ways in which the author/illustrator communicates the change and shift in mood.

 

 

 

Having examined several graphic autobiographical narratives with symbolic elements, analyze trends and common threads specific to graphic novels. Evaluate: what is more effectively communicated in graphic format? What is not? How to the graphic works compare to text-based autobiographies we have read in class?

 

Thesis and Synthesis: Writing

 

 

 

2.1 Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories:

 

 

 

a. Relate a sequence of events and communicate the significance of the events to audience.

 

b. Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.

 

c. Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters’ feelings.

 

d. Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate changes in time and mood.

 

e. Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details

 

 

 

Using the writing standards for biographical and narrative writing, create your own autobiographical graphic novel highlighting a specific event (or series of events) surrounding a powerful moment in your life.

 

 

 

Your work should include:

 

· Grade-level text of 1,500 or more words.

 

· Identifiable narrative plotting.

 

· Visual symbols and motifs that stand in for larger issues or themes.

 

· Characters engaging in both exterior dialogue with other characters and interior monologues with themselves. This can be done explicitly (with word bubbles), or implicitly (with images).

 

· Using color and sketching to illustrate a shift in mood or tone.

 

 

 

Once your graphic novel is complete, please present your work to the class and explain some of the literary elements and techniques you used (ie. themes, symbols, motifs, stylistic elements and decisions).

 

 

 

 

 

 

(DM 4.28.08)

 

 

 

 

Satrapi, Marjane (2003). Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood. New York, N Y: Pantheon Books. Illustrated by Marjane Satrapi. ISBN: 0-375-42230-7.

 

 

 

 

At the age of 10 Marji’s life changes because of the overthrown Shah, the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Iran-Irag war. Marji’s parents stay in Iran, hoping that conditions will improve, but her family realizes that the new government has more restrictions. They then must face a decision on whether to stay in Iran or leave.

 

 

 

The book is illustrated in a graphic novel format in black and white.

 

 

 

Rating: 5Q/5P

 

MWood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media Used: Pen and Ink

 

 

Rating: 5Q/5P

 

 

Format: Graphic Novel

 

 

Curriculum Connection: World Culture, World History Grades 11-12

 

Marjane is a young, outspoken girl trying to live an independent life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

 

 

 

 

ISBN: 0375422307

 

 

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis: the story of a childhood. New York: Pantheon Books.

ISBN: 9780375422300

5Q/4P

 

 

Satrapi’s memoir of her childhood in Iran gives a fresh perspective of what it is like to grow up in a country plagued with political upheavals that resulted in a totalitarian, fundamentalist Islamic state. As her life was shadowed with danger, the bold use of black in the illustrations conveys a sense of anger, fear, and uncertainty that permeated their lives.

 

 

Media: Black ink.

 

 

Satrapi presents a different perspective of growing up and living in Iran. Beyond the political upheavals and the Islamic fundamentalists, Satrapi’s family’s intellectual freedoms are slowly being quelled, to the danger and detriment of their extended family and friends. If political enemies aren’t bombing them, they are at risk of being kidnapped and tortured by the authorities controlling their society. Her story illustrates how devastating it is to lose freedom and how freedom should never be taken for granted.

 

 

TK 4/29/08

 

 

 

This book tells the true story of the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and its aftermath through the eyes of a ten year old girl. Though her sometimes painful recount of these events, the reader is given a touchingly personal perspective.

 

JMB 4/29/08

 

Satrapi, M.  (2004).  Persepolis: The story of a childhood.  New York: Pantheon Books,  0375422307.  5Q/5P.  Artwork is pen and ink. 

 

Satrapi tells the story of her life during the Iranian Revolution. 

* Grade:10-12, Subject: World History, Iranian Revolution

 

jw 05/06/08

 

 

 

TOP TEN - Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon.

ISBN-10: 037571457X

 

ISBN-13: 978-0375714573

 

The story is of a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, an intimate and touching portrayal of upheaval and unrest.

 

*Use in “social studies” classes (world relations/political history ramifications) [10^th – 12^th grade].

 

Media: Unknown

 

5Q/5P

 

 

CJS 5/9/08

 

Persepolis Lesson Plan

 

 

 

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, ill. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003.

This is an amazing autobiographical story about a young girl growing up in Iran in the 70's and 80's. The reader experiences through her eyes what life was like in Iran before the revolution of 1979 and how changes brought on by fundamentalism and the Iran-Iraq war affected her family's life.

    - ISBN 0375422307 (hardcover)

    - Media: pen and ink

    - Rating: 5Q/5P

    - Curricular Connections: Grades 9-12, History/Social Studies, Biography, World Culture, Women's History Month

    - *TOP TEN*

 

DPower 6/11/09

 

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. New York: Pantheon, 2003.

ISBN:  037571457

Illustrator:  Satrapi, M.

Media: Pen and Ink

5Q/5P

 

Curricular connection: Coming of age.  American Born Chinese, Persepolis, and Arab in America could be used in freshmen high school English/History classes to establish basic understandings of other cultures and customs in different societies.  Teachers can also emphasize the important role ethnicity plays in forming personal identity in the characters of the book.

Age level:  12th grade

Annotation:  Marjane Satrapi's pictorial memoir of her young woman hood depicts the positive and negative aspects of her family life in Iran, as well as the cultural influence of Western society.

 

 KRF 6/15/09

 

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, ill. New York: Pantheon Books, 2003 ISBN-10: 0375422307

Satrapi describes her life in Iran during the revolution. Readers learn about the revolution through the story of her family's struggle.

    - Media: Pen and Ink

    - Rating: 5Q/5P

    - Curricular Connections: Grades 6-9 History, Geography, Social Studies

CHA 8/1/09