They say forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest — and that certainly appears to be the case for a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel.
The backstory
Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale is based on the author’s interviews with his father, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor.
All characters are depicted as animals: Jews are mice, for example, while Nazis are cats.
Despite the novel’s critical acclaim, a McMinn County, Tennessee, school board banned the novel from its 8th-grade curriculum over 8 curse words, a drawing of a naked mouse, and depictions of violence, per The Guardian.
But the people want what they can’t have
Interest in Maus has boomed, according to Google Trends, and the book has climbed to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list, per NPR.
Additionally, several comic bookstores have offered to donate free copies to McMinn County students, while a fundraiser to purchase the book for students across the US has already raised $105k+ at press time.
The ban also resulted in an apparent flurry of film and TV offers, but Spiegelman told The Hollywood Reporter he’s not interested in adaptations because “comics adhere to the brain better.”
Quote: “Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’s exactly what you need to know.” — Stephen King, the famous horror author whose books are frequently banned
