Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood -- Marjane Satrapi, Paperback

BEST SELLER - A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - A memoir of growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran.... That Satrapi chose to tell her remarkable story as a gorgeous comic book makes it totally unique and indispensable. --Time

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's best-selling graphic 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.

Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane's child's-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

Author: Marjane Satrapi
Publisher: Pantheon Books
Published: 06/01/2004
Pages: 153
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 8.96h x 6.02w x 0.51d
ISBN: 9780375714573

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 3.3
Point Value: 2
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 76929 / Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood


Review Citation(s):
Entertainment Weekly 09/03/2004 pg. 81
Kliatt 09/01/2004 pg. 42
Newsweek 07/13/2009 pg. 48

About the Author
Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She grew up in Tehran, where she studied at the Lycée Français before leaving for Vienna and then going to Strasbourg to study illustration. She has written several children's books, and her illustrations appear in newspapers and magazines throughout the world, including The New Yorker and the New York Times. She currently lives in Paris.