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Summer Reading Presentation

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

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Presented by Mrs. Marissa KinghamIB English Teacher9th Grade AICE English General Paper

1. Students, please type your full name in the chat box.

2. Make sure you mute your microphone.

3. The link to the assignment document is in the chat box.

● Same assignment for AICE English & MYP English● Multiple 9th grade IB English teachers● Expectation of quality work● Expectation of independent work● Expectation of timely work● Graphic novel● Easy read, but hard work

Buy THIS one. The RED one. The Story of a Childhood one.

These are the wrong ones for your summer assignment.

Persepolis: The Story of a ChildhoodPersepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Memoirs include all the facts of an event in the author’s life, but the author has more flexibility here because she is telling a story as she remembers it, not as others can prove or disprove it.

A memoir of growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran, "Persepolis" provides a unique glimpse into a nearly unknown and unreachable way of life. It has the strange quality of a note in a bottle written by a shipwrecked islander. That Satrapi chose to tell her remarkable story as a gorgeous comic book makes "Persepolis" totally unique and indispensable.

Marjane Satrapi spent the first fourteen years of her life in Tehran, as the daughter of well-educated, middle-class, left-wing parents. At the beginning of "Persepolis," she recalls her early obsession with becoming God's new Prophet. Practically personifying her country's sacred-secular struggle, she would decree that their maid could eat at the table with them and that her father's Cadillac would be banned. While her parents demonstrated against the Shah, Satrapi would march around the backyard with her friends, pretending to be Che Guevara. Like Satrapi, I was nine when the Shah fell in 1979. That the so-called "Islamic Revolution" began as a populist revolt that included secular, left-wing socialists is just one of this book's many surprises for someone like myself. The celebrations of the revolution take on a bittersweetness when imprisoned members of Satrapi's family are freed and return with tales of torture and murder.

Then things start to go badly.

The co-educational French school Marjane attends is shut down and she is sent to an Islamic girls' school. Both she and her mother are required to wear scarves over their hair. They publicly protest, along with many other women, until they are attacked by fundamentalist thugs. Roving "Guardians" make sure citizens (mostly women) follow the rules. Meanwhile the universities are closed, a beloved uncle is executed as a Soviet spy, and the borders are sealed.

Then the war with Iraq starts, and the last third of "Persepolis" tells of its domestic ramifications. Tehran, where Satrapi lived, soon became a target for bombing and eventually for scud missiles. One day the maid arrives with a plastic, gold-painted key given to her son in school. "They told the boys that if they went to war and were lucky enough to die, this key would get them into heaven."

While the artistry and revelations of "Persepolis" already make it a required read, it has taken on even more importance in the current geopolitical climate. Written with astonishing detail and from the point of view of a child, "Persepolis" domesticates world events and makes them relatable and real. It pulls back the veil on a culture that utterly preoccupies us, but about which we know little. Its complicated personal portrait makes it impossible to think of Iran as the monolithic fundamentalist terror state of our fears.

Thanks to its timeliness and its subject, Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis" makes for one of the most vital and surprising reads of the season. That she did it as a graphic memoir says a lot about the growth of this art-form. You could, and should, easily get a younger teenager to read it. Sometimes funny and sometimes sad but always sincere and revealing, "Persepolis" will be one of the best graphic books of the year.

Google Doc or handwritten

How to Read a Graphic NovelHOW TO READ A GRAPHIC NOVEL - READ THIS BEFORE PERSEPOLIS

Review the following terms to see how to read and write about a graphic novel.

Text▪ Speech balloons: These enclose dialogue and come from a

specific speaker’s mouth.▪ Thought bubbles: Dots or bubbles form the balloon to show a

character’s internal thoughts.▪ Captions: Closed rectangles at the top or bottom of the panel

giving background information.

Layout▪ Panel: one box containing a combination of image and text in

endless variety▪ Frame: the lines and borders that contain the panels▪ Gutter: the space between framed panels▪ Graphic weight: a term that describes the way some images

draw the eye more than others, creating a definite focus using color and/or heavy, light or patterned shading

Thought bubble

Quote AnalysisAnalysis:

To examine in detail to show meaning, identify elements and the relationship between them

Your first analysis is from pages 1-61 only

Your second analysis is from pages 62-153 only

Student Sample

The Grading RubricThis is the MYP Grading Rubric, which will be used to grade this assignment.

Notice the difference in the bold words from the 7-8 range to the 5-6 range to the 3-4 range and to the 1-2 range.

Thank you for your time!You have all shown initiative and that you are inquirers just by participating in today’s presentation.

I look forward to meeting you all very soon.

If you have any questions over the summer about this assignment, you can email me at marissa.kingham@palmbeachschools.org. All I ask is that you confirm that your question isn’t already answered in this presentation or on the assignment document.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and start reading!

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