Persepolis

An intelligent and outspoken only child, Marjane Satrapi - the daughter of radical Marxists and the great-granddaughter of Iran's last emperor - bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Marjane's graphic depiction of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen brings home, with eloquence and force, the contradictions between private and public life in a country plagued by political upheavals. Her child's eye view imparts immediacy and humor to this tale of dethroned emperors, suicidal uncles, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution, and it allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and her own extraordinary family. This true story of a little girl surviving a childhood at once unbelievably outrageous and comfortingly ordinary, beset by the unthinkable yet buffered by a loving family, is destined to win readers' hearts. Both timely and timeless, in its content and design it is truly unique.