We're reading (or in my case, rereading) Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi) over the summer, and I'm psyched. I was originally upset, because it's replacing Hamlet in the IB junior English curriculum. But I'll be studying Hamlet this fall with the High School Fellowship Program at the Folger, then I'll be studying it in IB senior English, so I'm set :) Anyway, I just love the fact that IB thinks outside of the box and chooses books for its English curricula that other schools wouldn't. A number of my classmates (who have yet to even read the book!) have already written it off as a simple "comic book," or an "easy read." However, there are major themes and serious stories and issues conveyed in this book, and the visual component just adds a whole other dimension to analyze. In short, I'm really excited to study this from a scholarly perspective. It'll be interesting to get a chance to write an essay about how the illustrator also helps to convey the themes and ideas of the novel.