The Diary of Anne Frank is a testament to that. It is a direct slap in the face to men, women, and children that lived through it and died in it. “This is inappropriate for children” is a weak statement considering that the children of the Holocaust didn’t get a choice when it happened to them. To prevent children from learning about history is immoral and unjust. The comics industry has a long and fearless history in teaching children how terrible the world can be, but most importantly, what they can do about it. It is absurd to believe that swear words and the human body are more shocking than graphic depictions of genocide. The McMinn County school board stated its decision was based not on its setting of The Holocaust, but due to Maus's inclusion of profanity, nudity, and topics such as virginity and self-harm. The reality of the Holocaust is far from pretty, but it’s an important story for everyone to learn.īuy: Maus by Art Spiegelman $32.The decision to ban Maus in a Tennessee school district is riddled with bad intentions. If you feel a certain way about what is or isn’t acceptable for school kids, I encourage you to read the book yourself. It’s dark and it’s harsh because the reality of the situation was dark, harsh and hellish. Having read the book several times myself, I can tell you that it is no comforting, cozy read. Maus tackles trauma and generational trauma head-on and depicts them with raw honesty. Board members voted in favour of banning the novel because it contained. This book isn’t just about one man’s story of surviving a concentration camp, it’s about the experience as a whole and how it affects generations of people. The graphic novel Maus: A Survivor's Tale depicts how the author's parents survived Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Īnd from the board meeting notes, board member Tony Allman was quoted saying: “It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff, it is not wise or healthy.” Why You Should Buy Mausīanning a book like this does absolutely nothing good.

There's only one kind of people who would vote to ban Maus, whatever they are calling themselves these days. We saw a similar controversy when a library announced that it would ban Dr. What Is Everyone Saying?Īs can be expected when a book (especially one that has been around for so long) suddenly gets banned, there are a lot of thoughts from a lot of different perspectives.

Published as a complete set in 1991, the graphic novel would go on to be the first and only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize a year later. He does not hold back as he depicts famine, death and the brutality that his father and his fellow captives endured through their experiences. The book is by no means an easy read, especially thanks to Spiegelman’s use of black ink and his employment of harsh jagged lines. The book depicts Spiegelman as he interviews his father for the book, as well as shows recreations of his father’s time in the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. It follows Spiegelman as he interviews his father (Vladek Spiegelman) about his experience as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust. Maus is a serialized graphic novel that debuted in 1980. Anyone can grab a copy at Amazon or, though it’s on backorder at the moment.īuy: Maus by Art Spiegelman $32.20 What Is Maus About? While the book may no longer be taught to eighth-grade students in the McMinn County school system, it is still very much available for purchase online. For as long as there have been school boards, there have been parochial parents and school board members banning books for absurd reasons. To put this into context, the McMinn County had a population of 53,276 people, according to the 2020 U.S. We should be clear that the book Maus has not been banned in any meaningful sense it’s simply been removed from the curriculum of McMinn County’s eighth-grade classes. “I think they’re so myopic in their focus and they’re so afraid of what’s implied and having to defend the decision to teach ‘Maus’ as part of the curriculum that it lead to this kind of daffily myopic response,” he said. Was the decision to remove the book based on anti-semitism? Spiegelman said that based on the meeting minutes from the school board meeting, it does not seem that the book was banned because he’s Jewish, but instead the board felt the use of words like “damn” and the unclothed woman was inappropriate for the students. Speaking to CNN, the author said, “I moved past total bafflement to try to be tolerant of people who may possibly not be Nazis, maybe,” he said. On the eve of International #HolocaustRemembranceDay, it is more important than ever for students to learn this history.įor his part, Spiegelman seems more baffled by the sudden decision than upset. 1/ Maus has played a vital role in educating about the Holocaust through sharing detailed and personal experiences of victims and survivors.

Maus graphic novel