The Burn Journals

Title: The Burn Journals
Author: Brent Runyon
Publisher: New York : Vintage (2004)
ISBN: 1400096421 9781400096428
Pages: 374
Characters: Brent Runyon, Mom, Dad, Craig, various doctors and nurses
Bookmarks: 5

One day after an incident at school Brent Runyon comes home and attempts to light himself on fire. He immediately regrets it and puts himself out. Brent spends the next several months in the burn unit recovering. Some parts of his recovery are pretty normal- watching TV, fantasizing about sex, talking about movies. Other parts are more harrowing- having to see psychologists, get skin grafts, physical therapy. Once out of the unit, he must adjust back to being in the real world and having his scars. He must recover both physically and emotionally. Yes, some of what Runyon does during recovery like listening to tapes, watching movies on a VCR, playing Nintendo (especially Mario Brothers) may be a bit dated to teen readers, but it doesn't take away from his story.

I had heard a lot of great review about this book and was excited to Runyon has done an amazing job. The detail and emotional involvement of the book sucked me in immediately. Runyon's descriptions of how he felt through the whole experience, physically and emotionally are incredible. The book is completely gripping. One of the few books emotionally powerful enough to make me have to put it down at times because I couldn't handle what was going on. I can't imagine putting into writing for anyone to read hardly any of the experience of my life, especially not something as traumatic and life-changing as a suicide attempt. While I would love for any teen to read this book, I am afraid that some parts of it may glamorize Runyon's experiences- getting free stuff from Magic Johnson and meeting celebrities. Overall though, it is a great book.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Title: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books (2003)
ISBN: 0375422307 9780375422300 037571457X 9780375714573
Pages: 153

4 bookmarks

Perseoplis is the story of Marjane, is actually the memoir of the author's childhood in Iran. Satrapi is the great-granddaughter of Iran's last emperor and the daughter of Marxist parents. Persepolis tells the story of Satrapi as she grows up in Tehran following the overthrow of the Shah, during the Islamic Revolution, and into the war with Iraq. While growing up, she ponders why everything is going on and worries about the safety of her parents as they demonstrate and people around her are arrested.

I really like Persepolis and can understand why it has been compared to Art Speigelman's Maus. I am not quite as impressed with Persepolis as I was Maus however. I did like that the book was about an area that most of us Americans do not know much about- Iran. It is fascinating to get that different perspective on things. This book would be great to use in the classroom at the high school level. It would be great to use in a history classroom to help students learn about the history of Iran.