My father is an obsessive news consumer. He often sat in front of his favorite news station on TV and read the Columbus Dispatch at the same time. If we kids were lucky, we could ask for the art section and read the comics until he was ready to read them. “Peanuts” by Charles Schulz and “Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson were my top two favorites. I loved the colors and the laughs. I also watched animated comic shows like Justice League and Bugs Bunny on Cartoon Network.

But it wasn’t until my 10^th grade English class when my teacher Mrs. Kelley-Anderson and the student teacher Ms. Grim had us read Persepolisby Marjane Satrapi. All through the year we were required to annotate the books we read. I treated my books with such care that I cried if the spine became damaged or a page was folded…