Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

1. Bibliography
Satrapi, M. 2003. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York, NY: Pantheon. ISBN 9780375714573


2. Summary
This graphic novel follows the life of Marji, an Islamic young girl, as she lives through the Islamic Revolution and all of the backlash and deaths that came with it. Each chapter shows a different part of her life, and it all comes together in the end when Marji is sent to Austria for a better and protective life.

3 .Discussion
I enjoyed this book because it is a graphic novel, but I did struggle with reading it because I have always struggled with anything Social Studies related (the illustrations made it a fun read for me). After the first chapter (“The Veil”), I was a bit confused because I thought women who wear the veil wore it with pride, but it seemed to be a punishment and people were resisting to wear it. I struggled with understanding topics like this one, so I was confused for the first half of the book and had to do a lot of research to ensure whether the information in the novel was true concerning their culture.

After reading, I did question whether this graphic novel would also be considered as historical fiction. As stated in chapter 10, one criteria to consider when evaluating the book is, “Is everything consistent with the social milieu?” and it is very clear throughout the book, especially with the emphasis of the clothing restrictions Iran women had.

4. Connections
Even though this novel is a graphic novel, I do have to say that I learned a lot of history. This gives me a great idea that this would be a good book to use in a Social Studies classroom setting, and I believe that each chapter can be read and discussed since each chapter focuses on a certain topic while still revolving around the same story line. Death is discussed, which I think may cause some controversy in an elementary school level, but it may be acceptable in a middle school setting.

I am interested in reading the second part, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, which is said to be about Marjane returning to Iran after she graduates.

Another Iran based book from Satrapi is Embroideries, which is said to be about the sex lives of Irarian women. Although I am not sure if I am interested in reading this one, I do enjoy the writing style of Satrapi.