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February 3, 2022 2:53 pm
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Comic Book Stores Offer Free Copies of Holocaust Novel ‘Maus’ to Students After Tennessee School District Ban

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avatar by Shiryn Ghermezian

French-language copies of Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel “Maus.” Photo: ActuaLitté/Flickr

Comic book store owners are offering to give students in Tennessee free copies of a Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel that was recently banned by a local school district.

The McMinn County School Board voted unanimously on Jan. 10 to remove “Maus” by Art Spiegelman from its eight-grade curriculum, citing the book’s “unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide.” The board said the book — which depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats while exploring the experiences of Spiegelman’s parents in the Holocaust — “was simply too adult-oriented for use in our schools.”

Ryan Higgins, owner of the shop Comics Conspiracy in Sunnyvale, California, said last week on Twitter he would donate up to 100 copies of “Maus” to families in McMinn County, “just DM me your address!” His message has since been retweeted over 3,000 times and “liked” by almost 13,000 Twitter users.

“Our phone has been ringing off the hook with endless support,” Higgins told CNN, adding that the few copies of “Maus” he had in stock sold out immediately. A new shipment of books is expected to arrive Friday and he plans to send them out soon after, he added.

“This is not a book that’s all about pornography and violence,” Higgins noted. “It teaches these kids about the horrors of the Holocaust in a more palatable way than some pictures that are just horrific.”

On Monday, the store Nirvana Comics in Knoxville, Tennessee, announced that it would provide a free copy of “Maus” to “any student that asks” after originally offering copies to mainly local students, particularly those in McMinn County. Each copy will come with a 10-page study guide put together by a local teacher to help parents discuss the book with their children.

Nirvana Comics set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to purchase more copies of “Maus,” which as of Thursday has raised $105,000, well exceeding the original goal of $20,000. The store said all extra funds “will be donated to local/state organizations that will help support these untold [stories].”

“We thought this would be a local support to help a magnificent piece of literature stay in the hands of students in the McMinn county. But… this has become a global priority!” the store added.

Nirvana Comics sent out around 50 copies of “Maus” on Tuesday and are waiting for 1,000 more copies to arrive at their store, CNN reported.

“‘Maus’ is not the only way to teach children about the Holocaust, but I think it’s the most effective and accessible,” said Rich Davis, who co-owns the comic book shop. “The images in the book are nowhere near as disturbing as pictures from Auschwitz or other concentration camps.”

Davis said “Maus” should be “required reading” for adults, explaining, “If we don’t show them what the Holocaust was, the next generation may think it wasn’t so bad, and then the next generation may think the Holocaust didn’t happen, and then the next generation is repeating the Holocaust.”

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