lens5_serdman

LENS 5 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi’s book //Persepolis// is different than most books that students read while in school or during their free time. //Persepolis// is a graphic novel. Seeing this book used as a graphic novel and not written words shines a light on how stories can be shared without using some words or not at all. Originally I thought I would not like this book and that I would not be able to understand what was going on in the story. I was proven wrong. While I was reading this book I could not help but think how this book could be used for students who either struggle with reading or those who do not like to read.

Satrapi divided the story up into major points that occurred in her life that left an impression on her while she was growing up. Each event was transformed into a small “comic strip” then when all of them were put together made a graphic novel depicting her life and the struggles. Using the style of comics or graphics allows the reader to gain a new way to enunciate certain aspects throughout the story. This is done by either making the picture smaller or bigger than the rest of the pictures on the page. There are also different ways to show how time progresses during the story either by showing events instantaneously back to back or showing distance between the pictures to show that time had passed. Some graphic novels use words across the top of the pictures to explain what is going on in the picture while others do not and leave it open to interpretation by the reader. Pictures can also have their meaning changed by how big the main object is in comparison to everything else in the picture. I cannot repeat it enough that the author/illustrator of a graphic novel tell their story and show strong representation of the important moments and give the reader a new way to view a story.

This story or any kind of graphic novel could be used in the classroom to help students who struggle with reading. This gives them the opportunity to start reading and can be used to eventually build up to books that are completely written. As a teacher, I might even have a student who just cannot pay attention to a book that is all words but can pay attention to the sequence of pictures used to tell the story. I personally do not see if I would ever write a book myself let alone a graphic novel. For someone who wants to write a book and cannot pay attention to “writing” the book, it may be easier for them to draw their story or have an illustrator draw the story for them. I personally did not like the story of //Persepolis// but if it was a story that I personally enjoyed and it was a graphic novel I think I would enjoy it. //Persepolis// being a graphic novel, however, did help to make this story a little easier to understand and not as dry because I had pictures to look at. Reading //Persepolis// has opened my eyes to a new genre of books that I may be able to use in my classroom.