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In 1979, an Islamic Revolution took place in Iran. At the time, Marjane Satrapi was ten years old and the daughter of Marxists, a left-leaning family, living in Tehran. During the revolution, the people in Iran learned they had to rid themselves of any capitalistic ways. For Satrapi, that meant three immediate changes: she could no longer attend a bilingual school; she could not attend a co-ed school; and she had to wear a veil to cover her hair.

Today, Satrapi lives in Paris and has studied illustration in French universities. She is now the author of several books, including Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, a graphic novel that is autobiographical of the story of her childhood in Iran. Satrapi has also made an animated film about her childhood.

To find out more about Marjane Satrapi, read her author bio from Pengun Random House. Scroll down to read her author essay to find out why she wrote Persepolis, part of which you will read in this lesson.

At the end of this lesson, students will:

  • activate their prior knowledge through reading and writing.
  • develop an understanding of another perspective through viewing of media, reading of text, and responding to questioning.
  • make inferences, based on their understanding of the text.
  • reflect on their reading by revisiting a question they were asked to entertain earlier in lesson.
  • reflect on alternative perspectives by assuming a scenario and creating a writing artifact that draws on what they have learned in lesson.
  • ALCoS: 1, 4, 6, 9, 16, 22, 23, 27, 29, 36, 37, 40

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