'Persepolis' removal from some Chicago classrooms prompts protests
Teachers and students first believed the acclaimed graphic novel was being taken out of all classrooms and libraries, but Chicago Public Schools staff say it's only being taken out of seventh-grade classrooms.
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“They're banning a book that's all about freedom of speech,” Alija Maurer, a senior in Chicago public schools, told the Chicago Tribune.
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Before the clarification that the book would only be taken out of seventh-grade classrooms was issued, Lane Prep students protested outside of the school on Friday with signs bearing slogans like “Iran and CPS. Two dictators,” according to the Tribune.
Chicago Public Schools office of teaching and learning chief Annette Gurley told Publishers Weekly that “Persepolis” would not be taught in grades seven through ten until a guide for teachers on how to handle the book in the classroom was drawn up.
“We are not protesting the value of this book as a work of art,” Gurley said. “We just want to make sure that when we put this book into the hands of students, they have the background, the maturity to appreciate the book.”
Author Marjane Satrapi, whose youth in Iran is chronicled in the graphic novel, expressed anger over the decision to take the book out of seventh-grade classrooms and the request for special training for teachers.
“For me, the worst in all of that is it’s absolutely the biggest insult to the intelligence of the teachers… It’s Chicago, you know, it’s not like some weird state,” Satrapi told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s a big shame, really. I’m absolutely shocked. Even in Texas I didn’t have trouble with ‘Persepolis.’”
Satrapi’s publisher Pantheon, which is an imprint of Knopf Doubleday, told Publishers Weekly in a statement, “The Chicago Public School district has issued an ambiguous statement regarding the present and future availability of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis to students… The fact that Chicago is trying to limit this book’s use in classrooms and curriculums, suggesting teachers need guidance before they can discuss it, smacks of censorship.”
The graphic novel was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated animated film in 2007 and a 10-page sequel to “Persepolis” titled “Persepolis 2.0” was released in 2009.
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