Independent Reading Culture Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi graphic

Independent Reading Culture

• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (graphic novel) • Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas (memoir) • Chicana Falsa by Michelle Serros • How to Be a Chicana Role Model by Michelle Serros • Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon (a drama) • Angela’s Ashes by Frank Mc. Court (memoir) • The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell (memoir)

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi • Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas • Funny In Farsi is a memoir of an Iranian girl growing up in America. Firoozeh Dumas first came to the U. S. from Iran in the early '70 s when her father was sent to California on a two -year contract from the National Iranian Oil Company. Her family soon discovered that his presumed skill in English was basically limited to "vectors, surface tension and fluid mechanics. " In short, humorous vignettes, the author recounts their resulting difficulties and Americans' almost total ignorance of Iran, illustrating the kindness of people and her father's absolute love of this country.

Chicana Falsa by Michelle Serros • From the white boy who transforms himself into a full-fledged Chicano, to the self-assured woman who effortlessly terrorizes her Anglo boss, to the junior-high friend who berated her "sloppy Spanish" and accused her of being a "Chicana Falsa, " the people and places that Michele Serros brings to vivid life in this collection of poems and stories introduce a unique new viewpoint to the American literary landscape. Witty, tender, irreverent, and emotionally honest, her words speak to the painful and hilarious identity crises particular to the coming of age of an adolescent caught between two cultures.

How to be a Chicana Role Model by Mechelle Serros • How to be a Chicana Role Model is the fiercely funny tale of a Chicana writer who's trying to find a way to embrace two very different cultures --without losing touch with who she is.

Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon • A play set in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York in September 1937, this coming-of-age comedy focuses on Eugene Morris Jerome, a Polish-Jewish American teenager who experiences puberty and a search for identity as he tries to deal with his family, including his older brother Stanley, his parents Kate and Jack, and Kate's sister Blanche and her two daughters, Nora and Laurie, who come to live there after their father's death.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank Mc. Court • Angela's Ashes is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank Mc. Court. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank Mc. Court's impoverished childhood and early adulthood in Brooklyn, New York and Limerick, Ireland, as well as Mc. Court's struggles with poverty, his father's drinking issues, and his mother's attempts to keep the family alive.

Always Running by Luis Rodriguez • In the tradition of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Manchild in the Promised Land--an explosive memoir of hopelessness and resurrection that vividly portrays the brutality of barrio gang life. A timely exploration into the roots of Latino rage.

Yell-Oh Girls! By Vickie Nam • Culled from hundreds of submissions from all over the country, these poignant, honest, real, and surprising pieces on being Asian-American address such topics as culture clash, body image, interracial dating, adoption, and stereotypes.

The Joy Luck Club By Amy Tan • THE JOY LUCK CLUB explores the tender and tenacious bond between four daughters and their mothers. The daughters know one side of their mothers, but they don't know about their earlier never-spoken of lives in China. The mothers want love and obedience from their daughters, but they don't know the gifts that the daughters keep to themselves.

The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell • As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. One day she intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust —only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding.