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I think automatically the word "ban" gets a bad reputation. Personally, I don't think Persepolis is appropriate for seventh grade students to read. The fact that I'm reading it for the first time at twenty years old, and still find some topics a little hard to chew, I can't imagine a twelve or thirteen year old reading it. When I was in seventh grade, we read the Diary of Anne Frank. I remember there was some controversy because some kids bought the unabridged version, and that was not what we were assigned to buy.  The unabridged version had a little more graphic detail than the other. The Diary of Anne Frank has become a staple on reading lists in the American education system, and I think Persepolis could be too, if there was an edited kids version. The message of learning to think for yourself is a lesson all adolescents should learn, however I think twelve years old is a little too young to be reading about selling drugs, torture, and sex.

I think freedom of speech kind of negates the idea of book censorship as a societal factor. However, there are some things that are appropriate for the classroom and others that are not. I think teachers should have some say in what they're going to teach. But especially when working with children, they need to be extra cautious of the gravity of the topic they are teaching. They could even pull certain chapters from the book to read, and that would be fine too!