‘Wake Now in the Fire’ tells tale of ‘Persepolis’ school ban : NPR

There’s a famous scene in Betty Smith’s bestselling coming-of-age novel A tree grows in Brooklyn in which Smith describes the relationship her protagonist, 11-year-old Francie Nolan, has with her local public library: “Francie thought all the books in the world were in this library and she had a plan to read all the books in the world.”

I couldn’t help but think of little Francie Nolan — who, like Smith, grew up in the tenements of Brooklyn in the early 20th century and had a goal, as a young girl, to read every book she could find — as I tore through librarian Jarrett Dapier’s first young adult graphic novel, Wake up now in the fire. The book, illustrated by AJ Dungo, is a fictional account of real events. In 2013, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) suddenly restricted access to Marjane Satrapi’s memoir, Persepolis, without explanation of its decision-making process, in certain classrooms of the school system. This now world-famous autobiographical work, told in comic form, tells the story of a young girl and her family as they endure and witness the struggle and violence of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, and all that followed.

Aditi, a fictional high school student, one of the central characters in Dapier’s book, identifies with little Marji, Persepolis Precocious and stubborn narrator and protagonist. Like many other students at her high school, Aditi is greatly affected by the ban on reading books. She describes her experience moving from Mumbai to Chicago, where the bulk of Wake up now takes place, in terms of its interactions with public libraries. As a young girl in Mumbai, she was only allowed to take out one book a day. She gets around this strict rule by checking out a book early in the morning, reading as quickly and diligently as possible, then returning to bring out a new book after the librarians have changed shifts at noon. When Aditi moves to Chicago, a move her parents make in part to protect their family’s freedoms, she is stunned to learn that she can check out up to 30 books at a time.

A page of Wake up now in the fire.

Jarrett Dapier and AJ Dungo/Ten Speed ​​Graphics

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Jarrett Dapier and AJ Dungo/Ten Speed ​​Graphics

Like Satrapi’s young alter ego, Aditi also has strong-willed parents who encourage their daughter to “think for herself”. free.But Dapier’s work, like Satrapi’s, focuses not so much on the actions of adults as on the effects of those actions on young people and their reactions. In preparation for the book — which stems in part from a doctoral dissertation written by Dapier — the author interviewed students at Lane Technical College Preparatory High School in Chicago. Persepolis to forbid. Indeed, two elderly people, who were at the center of many related activities at the time, appeared in a March 2013 episode of Chicago tonight to eloquently summarize what this experience had meant to them and why they had chosen, essentially for the first time in their lives, to organize a protest in response to the events. “It’s time for us to make our voices heard,” Katie McDermott told reporters.

The plot of Wake up now in the fire moves seamlessly between different characters, with students affected in all sorts of ways by the book’s draw. Student journalists investigate the actions of CPS, also focusing on collecting impact statements from as many students and teachers as possible, and disseminating this information to the general public. Meanwhile, members of the school’s banned book club, among others, are planning actions, such as a strike, to demonstrate their objection to the CPS order. Others, like Aditi, find themselves newly invested in leadership roles in their communities. But they are also high school students who face all the problems and conflicts that take place in everyday life. They worry about their grades and getting into college; they are struggling with family problems; they bicker even as they learn together how to turn frustration and anger into peaceful, meaningful action. Ultimately, in the novel as in life, Persepolis has been allowed to remain in CPS libraries, and teachers, with required additional training, can teach the book in grades 8-10. The book remains banned in CPS classrooms before eighth grade, due to concerns about depictions of violence.

Dapier, in an author’s note, notes how the book’s 2013 removal “foreshadows our current moment,” where, according to the American Library Association, targeted attempts to censor books continue to increase. “Censorship of literature,” explains a character in the book, a teacher, “is often the starting point of oppression.” At the same time, young people, both in Iran and in the United States, took to the streets energetically, and often risking their lives, to defend their rights. Through these actions, we have the feeling of blending into something greater than ourselves – “beautiful disappearances”, as one character in the book describes it.

A tree grows in Brooklyn Francie Nolan found comfort, joy, and possibility in the books she freely took out of the library and then read at leisure in the shade of an ailante tree. Over the years, countless readers have identified with the power of this scene. And today, countless young people courageously continue the fight for their rights to access such powerful stages and stories.