Maus I: A Survivor’s
Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
BookSnap
Rationale
Maus
I is a graphic novel that records the
oral history of Art Spiegelman’s father.
Art interviewed his father, Vladek, in 1978-79 and the book recounts his
father’s life experiences from the mid-30s to his detention in Auschwitz. Critics did not know
how to classify the work and have since classified Maus as memoir,
biography, history, fiction, autobiography, a mix of genres and, most commonly,
graphic novel. Maus was not
received well at first because the graphic novel had not yet been accepted in
the mainstream when Maus was
published in 1986. While the term ‘graphic novel’ had been coined in 1964, Maus was the first to gain commercial
success. In 1992, after the publication of Maus
II, it became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. Rosemary Chance, in Young Adult Literature in Action, recommends Maus as a ‘Classic’ graphic novel (pg 32).
The BookSnap shows a
quote from Joseph Witek’s book Comic Books as History: The Narrative Art of Jack
Jackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar. I chose this quote to
show the importance of this work to bringing graphic novels into the mainstream. Before the commercial success of Maus, graphic novels were considered only
for children but also were associated solely
with super hero stories. The quote from
the book was chosen because, at the time, the belief about whether concentration camps existed and what they were
doing there was controversial. And, there has been much discussion about
whether people knew about their existence at the time. As Vladek explains here, the stories about
the concentration camps were so dreadful and so disturbing that they were
difficult to believe. Also, I believe
this quote expresses the gravity of the story.
The picture is from the front cover.
I chose this illustration because it shows the seriousness of the story and
the medium in which it is conveyed.
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Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began
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Art Spiegelman
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Graphic Novel
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Continuation from Maus I
|
Continues the story of
the Spiegelmans through to the end of World War II.
|
World War II in 500 Photographs
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The Editors of
Time-Life
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Non-Fiction
|
Shows the holocaust in
the context of the entire war.
|
Covers
the war from the Nazis’ early rise to power through to Victory over Japan Day
(VJ-Day). This books covers: key
events, battles, and turning points, year by year; profiles of the war's
leaders, heroes, and enemies; memorable quotations and firsthand accounts;
and color maps and photo timelines.
|
The Book Thief
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Markus Zusak
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Historical Fiction
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A historical fiction
account about a hidden Jewish man during WWII.
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- #1 New York Times bestseller
- Starred review in Kirkus Review, Publisher’s
Weekly, The Horn Book Magazine, and School Library Journal.
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Four Perfect Pebbles
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Lila Perl and Marion
Blumenthal Lazan
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Memoir
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The recounting of the
Blumenthal family who were trapped in Nazi territory for six years.
|
- ALA
Notable Book
- ALA
Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
- IRA
Young Adults’ Choice
- Notable
Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
|
From Kirkus Review: “This unusual Holocaust tale will forever alter the way serious readers think of graphic narratives. For his unforgettable combination of words and pictures, Spiegelman draws from high and low culture, and blends autobiography with the story of his father's survival of the concentration camps. In funny-book fashion, the all-too-real characters here have the heads of animals--the Jews are mice, the Nazis are rats, and the Poles are pigs--a stark Orwellian metaphor for dehumanized relations during WW II. Much of Spiegelman's narrative concerns his own struggle to coax his difficult father into remembering a past he'd rather forget. What emerges in father Vladek's tale is a study in survival; he makes it through by luck, randomness, and cleverness. Full of hard-earned humor and pathos, Maus takes your breath away with its stunning visual style, reminding us that while we can never forget the Holocaust, we may need new ways to remember.”
References
Chance, Rosemary. (2014) Young
adult literature in action: A librarian’s guide. (Second Edition). Denver,
CO: Libraries Unlimited.
Daspin, E., & Solomon,
M. (2014). World War II in 500 photographs. New York, NY: Time Home Entertainment.
Kirkus Reviews (1991.). Maus I: A survivors tale by Art Spiegelman. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/art-spiegelman/maus-a-survivors-tale/
Perl, L., & Lazan, M. B.
(2016). Four perfect pebbles: A true story of the
Holocaust. New York: Greenwillow
Books, An Imprint of HarperCollins.
Spiegelman, A. (1997). Maus I: A survivors tale / my father bleeds history. New York: Pantheon Books.
Spiegelman, A. (1997). Maus a survivors tale II: And here my troubles began. London: Penguin.
Witek, J. (1990). Comic books as history: The narrative art of Jack
Jackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar. Jackson, MS: Univ. Press of Mississippi.
Zusak, M., & White, T.
(2013). The book thief. New York, NY: Knopf.
