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'Maus,' the graphic novel about the Holocaust, surges to top of Amazon bestseller list after Tennessee school ban

Sophia Ankel   

'Maus,' the graphic novel about the Holocaust, surges to top of Amazon bestseller list after Tennessee school ban
  • A Tennessee school board removed "Maus" from its curriculum, citing concerns of nudity and violence.
  • The graphic novel, whose characters are mice and cats, depicts the story of two Holocaust survivors.

"Maus," the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, surged to the top of Amazon's bestseller list over the weekend after a Tennessee school board removed it from its eighth-grade curriculum.

As of Monday morning, "The Complete Maus," which includes all volumes of the graphic novel, was number one on Amazon. Individual editions for volumes one and two of the book were also in Amazon's top ten bestsellers list.

The various editions are also dominating in other sub-categories of Amazon's bestseller lists, including Comics & Graphic Novels, and Biographies & Memoirs.

The novel, which first published in 1986, tells the story of the author Art Spiegelman's parents' experience during the Holocaust and their imprisonment in Auschwitz. It depicts Nazi officers as cats and Jewish people as mice.

Its renewed popularity came after the McMinn County Board of Education in Tennessee decided on January 10 to remove "Maus" from the curriculum, citing concerns about depictions of nudity and violence, The Tennessee Holler reported.

During the meeting, school board members objected to the usage of the phrase "God damn" and what they called nude illustrations, The Tennessee Holler reported.

Board members called the graphics about violence and killing were "completely unnecessary" and that it was "not wise or healthy" for the book to promote them, The Tennessee Holler reported.

Spiegelman told The New York Times last week that he agreed that the imagery used in the graphic novel was disturbing.

"But you know what?" he told the Times, "It's disturbing history."

It's not clear if the school board plans to replace "Maus" with another book about the Holocaust.

The author's agency did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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