Persepolis 1 by Marjane Satrapi

The opening volume of Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, set in Tehran in the years surrounding the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Marji is a bright, headstrong young girl, the daughter of secular, politically engaged parents, growing up as the Shah's regime falls and a new, stricter order takes its place.

Through a child's eyes, Marji absorbs the upheaval around her: family stories of imprisoned relatives, the sudden imposition of the veil, and a rising current of fear and defiance in her once-open household. She is old enough to sense that history is happening to her country, but still young enough to process it through games, God, and the confidence of childhood.

Told in spare black-and-white panels, this volume introduces the family and setting that carry through the rest of Satrapi's memoir.