Maus 1. Mein Vater kotzt Geschichte aus. Die Geschichte eines… (1986)

Currently, this book is best known for being challenged and ultimately banned by a school board in Tennessee. Based on the author’s father’s experiences during World War II, the graphic novel holds nothing back when depicting the horrors and injustice experienced by people deemed less than by the Nazis. Using mice to represent Jewish people and cats to represent the Nazis, author and illustrator Art Spieglemen is able to evoke pathos without causing so much stife in the readers that they disassociate and become incapable of empathizing. What’s surprising then is that the depictions of nudity were cited as a main reason for challenging Maus. World War II and the Holocaust were ugly, painful, horrific and hard to accept. Books like Maus do not sugarcoat these facts: there’s nudity, vulgar language, death, murder, and hate crimes but by using a genre (animal stories) typically reserved for children, teens and adults can experience these realities in digestible ways.

As of 2022 a "banned" book. A very important contribution to holicaust surviver's literature. The comic format appealed to me then for sure. The story itself is gripping. Read both 1 and 2. ( )

Very powerful. ( )

La mejor historieta de la historia! No puede ser mejor ( )

I especially appreciate the jumps forward in time to intimate family details that frame the larger historical story. ( )