Final Post Part 4: Maus by Art Spiegelman

Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.

Out of all the survivor’s tales, Maus may be one of the few graphic novels that is acceptable for younger audiences, and has not been watered down to near extinction. A tale using mice instead of people make the story understandable without having to imagine yourself there. Maus, the German word of mouse, is a tale of the Holocaust written in a series of recounts from Spiegelman’s father, who was in the Holocaust.

Instead of creating a run of the mill novel, Spiegelman created a graphic novel of the events. In this graphic novel, Speieglman explains the Holocaust using mice as people. This gives the novel a story like feel, but about true events. In the story, the mice go through very similar events that the Jewish people went through during the Holocaust. Spiegelman goes into detail about his Grandfather’s life before the war. After giving his characters some human qualities, Spiegelman adds in the war bit by bit.

While Spiegleman was not alive during the Holocaust, he is still a victim. Norn four years after, he suffered right along with the remaining members of his family. Since he is not an insider to the actual events of the Holocaust, he is still a Jewish man creating Jewish literature. This makes him an insider. Since the nature of the book is a little higher level, I feel that a strong fifth grade reader could read and enjoy this book. However, a sixth grade level would be best. The content of the book might not be fully understood by any younger aged students.