Maus

Art Spiegelman's Maus is the first graphic novel I have ever read. From the first page I was so intrigued. The fact that he wrote this graphic novel to tell the story of his father is so special because not only does it set it apart from other graphic novels, but it draws the reader in with sentimental value and emotions. The concept of using cats and mice to represent the Jews and Nazi's is so genius because it deals with such issues, but makes them readable and understandable to a younger audience by the metaphorical characters.

Even though I plan on teaching English, I feel this book could also be taught in a history or social studies class as well. I have personally never seen it taught in school, but by what I hear it is wildly popular among students of various ages. I think they like the fact that it's engaging by the pictures and the easily readable text. It teaches such important topics and ideas that can be difficult for students to understand and care about at times. The way Spiegelman designed this makes it so much easier for students to understand the level of hatred between the two sides during the German-Nazi time period. Translating it in a way that draws students in not only helps them understand but also makes them interested in the content. If we can do this with every novel we teach, we are succeeding as teachers. This means we need more engaging novels like Maus written so we can teach them to our students. Maus is such a fun graphic novel and I am so glad I had the opportunity to get introduced to it in this class and I can not wait to teach it to my future students one day.