Some Mondays are worth looking forward to, and yesterday was one of them. That's because Sandhya and I went to see an author we both like tremendously, and the experience was better than we imagined. I'm talking about Marjane Satrapi, author of the two-part graphic novel Persepolis. We saw her speak at the State University of New York at Purchase.

If you've never read a graphic novel before--and I hadn't before Persepolis, other than thumbing through some of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series in college--then Persepolis is a great introduction. It's also an eye-opening look at life in Iran, one of the countries that U.S. politicians have labeled as part of an "axis of evil."

Persepolis is told over the course of two books, The Story of a Childhood and The Story of a Return. The books follow Satrapi from her youth in Iran to her education and coming of age in Europe back to her return to Iran as a young woman. It's hard not to fall in love with Marji (her nickname), who's inquisitive, opinionated, brave, and not afraid to admit her mistakes. In the first book, Marji describes how her life twists and turns from ages 6 to 14, including both the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that brought religious fundamentalists to power in Iran, and the eight-year Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

It's fascinating, as an American who never studied much modern history in school, to learn about these events. They help put the present situation in Iran and the Middle East in perspective. And seeing them through Marji's eyes lends them a human touch. Watching the news on TV or reading it in the paper, it's tempting to think that most people in Iran are just as dogmatic and religiously fanatic as their leaders, but Persepolis proves that's not so; there are good, intelligent, funny, open-minded people everywhere.

The lecture was a ton of fun and both Sandhya and I left with smiles. Satrapi is really smart and funny, not afraid to speak her mind, and her English is terrific. She talked a lot about why she chose to tell her story graphically, and how people always ask her why she didn't write a text memoir instead. "You wouldn't ask a moviemaker, 'Why didn’t you dance?'" she responds. Satrapi says she decided to write the books because she was sick of the preconceptions and biases that people in the West have about life in Iran.

One of the most interesting parts of the talk was her description of writing Persepolis. In other books, Satrapi uses a free-flowing style, but Persepolis is broken into short chapters made of small-framed panels; this approach allowed her to keep a necessary distance from the story. "My goal is to take the reader by the hand and say, 'I have a story to tell you, and you will listen to it, and I will never let your hand down.'"

Fans of Persepolis and people who've never read it are in for a real treat. Satrapi is working on an animated film version of Persepolis and hopes it will be released sometime next year. Yesterday was also the U.S. release of the English translation of her new book, Chicken With Plums, a really sad story about one of Satrapi's distant relatives. In the meantime, if you like her work and want to hear what she has to say, you can see if Satrapi may be coming to a city near you.

Have you read Persepolis? If so, what do you think? What did you like or not like about it? What did you learn?

Review by Steven Levine, Grade 11

Obie Trice was brought up like many rappers: in the ghetto of an industrial city, in this case, Detroit.  His hard knocks life taught him at a young age that hard work and determination could lift him out of his struggle. Marshall Mathers, a.k.a. Eminem, inspired Trice. Eminem's success in the underground scenes of Detroit encouraged Trice to meet and impress his role model. It didn't take long. Obie's career skyrocketed after a personal introduction to the Detroit rap legend himself. Eminem was so impressed by Obie's sampler, as well as his work ethic, that he signed him on the spot. Three years later, Obie released his first album, "Cheers," which received highly regarded praise around the world.  Trice just released his second album "Second Round's On Me," which clearly demonstrates the maturation and professional talents that Obie has at the microphone.

Obie Trice has a presence and style all his own. Plain and simple. Nobody with any experience with rap music could ever mistake Obie for another rapper. His incomparable voice has the ability to take center stage, but not overshadow the music. He can also blend into the music for a good boost. All rap sounds the same. No it doesn't. Obie Trice has proved that in 2003 and now again in 2006. 

Since 2003, Obie has matured as a lyricist as well as in production. As a boy, Trice always wanted to connect with his icons. Unsurprisingly, a goal he had on this album was to connect with his listeners.  He has successfully achieved this goal through unparalleled lyrics and song structure. His great flow and rhythm complement the beats of Eminem and his other qualified producers. Not only that, this album can stimulate anyone to feel all types of emotions. For example, "Lay Down" is a song designed to amp up the listener as Obie displays well his quick skills as well as his rhymes. The chorus contrasts Obie's quickness with a slower power-punched feature that can bring anybody's heart rate up. 

Trice brings down the curtain on his sophomore album with "Obie Story." The tone of this song goes from upbeat, to depressed, and then it tops off with an optimistic feeling.  What makes this song is how the mood changes when the lyrics and beats change, accurately showing how the music can affect a listener's perception of meaning just as easily as lyrics can.

Obie Trice was determined to avoid the curse of the sophomore slump with the release of his second album, and he has succeeded in style.  "Second Round's On Me" shows all the fine qualities that Trice possesses in the rap business. If you enjoyed "Cheers" then you are bound to love this album. Even if you have never heard the work of Trice, you should give this album a listen because it is truly phenomenal.

Every year, the National Book Foundation recognizes achievements in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young people's literature. Last year, the award in the young people's literature category went to Jeanne Birdsall for her novel The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy

The 2006 National Book Award finalists were announced yesterday. For the first time ever, the nominees include a graphic novel--Gene Luen Yang's "American Born Chinese" which was nominated in the young people's literature category. (Other nominees were  M.T. Anderson's The Pox Party: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1; Martine Leavitt's Keturah and Lord Death; Patricia McCormick's Sold (listen to the author read an excerpt); Nancy Werlin's The Rules of Survival).

Here's a plot synopsis of American Born Chinese, taken from the book's website:

All Jin Wang wants is to fit in...

When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he's the only Chinese--American student at his school. Jocks and bullies pick on him constantly, and he has hardly any friends. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with an all-American girl ...

Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey on earth. But the Monkey King doesn't want to be a monkey. He wants to be hailed as a god ...

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he's ruining his cousin Danny's life. Danny's a basketball player, a popular kid at school, but every year Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from bad to worse ...

These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant, and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax - and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth

Recognize this? Well, if you haven't read it yet, you will soon. Tell your teachers to get on that! It's The Road Not Taken, the classic Robert Frost poem that every student absolutely MUST read before he/she gets to high school. I'm not going to link it here because it's just so important that you have to go find it yourself. It's totally worth it and will take you about three seconds to find. At any rate, it is a poem about self-discovery, originiality, and yes, even anti-establishment. Oh, and it all takes place in the most pastoral of scenes. Ahhh.

Why am I talking about this poem? Well, to introduce you to Robert Frost for starters. He was a poet who, as a young boy, often heard voices in his head. His mother told him that he shared her "second sight", while his father continued to drink away the years.

What does any of this have to do with poetry? Hmm. Well, alot, actually. One of the best ways to appease the voices in your head is to write them out of you. I'm not saying that Frost wrote because of this. I'm just suggesting that you might.

Wow. ANYWAY.... we are here today to talk about a new Robert Frost poem (new to us anyway). Frost has been dead for nearly 40 years but since when has that kept the great ones from their art? His latest poem, "War Thoughts at Home" was handwritten in a copy of a close friend's book. That friend was Frederic G. Melcher, and the poem is partly about him.

According to the Virginia Quarterly Review, "War Thoughts at Home" embodies the stories of two great friends in Frost's life. The first was Edward Thomas--who died in the trenches during World War I--and the poem narrates Frost's ambivalence about the war that claimed Thomas's life. The story of the other friend picks up where the first leaves off. It is the story of a new beginning for Frost in his friendship with Frederic G. Melcher, a rising star in the book trade, and it was Melcher who preserved this lost passage of Frost's poetic thoughts about the war.

Here is a brief excerpt of "War Thoughts at Home"

On the backside of the house
Where it wears no paint to the weather
And so shows most its age,
Suddenly blue jays rage
And flash in blue feather.

It is late in an afternoon
More grey with snow to fall
Than white with fallen snow
When it is blue jay and crow
Or no bird at all.

The entire poem is printed in the current issue of the Virginia Quaterly Review. Pick one up today!