In response to Spiegelman’s Maus I and Maus II being removed from the schools by McMinn county, Tennessee school board members, I am offering this free online course for any McMinn county eighth-grade or high school students interested in reading these books with me,” said Scott Denham of Davidson College. Liss, Andrea (1998). Trespassing Through Shadows: Memory, Photography, and the Holocaust. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-3060-8. Colbert, James (November 8, 1992). "Times Book Prizes 1992: Fiction: On Maus II". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved January 31, 2012. Ostensibly about the Holocaust, the story entwines with the frame tale of Art interviewing and interacting with his father. Art's "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" is also encompassed by the frame, and stands in visual and thematic contrast with the rest of the book as the characters are in human form [52] in a surreal, German Expressionist woodcut style inspired by Lynd Ward. [123]

Spiegelman developed an interest in comics early and began drawing professionally at 16. [43] He spent a month in Binghamton State Mental Hospital in 1968 after a nervous breakdown. Shortly after he got out, his mother died by suicide. [2] Spiegelman's father was not happy with his son's involvement in the hippie subculture. Spiegelman said that when he bought himself a German Volkswagen it damaged their already-strained relationship "beyond repair". [44] Around this time, Spiegelman read in fanzines about such graphic artists as Frans Masereel who had made wordless novels. The discussions in those fanzines about making the Great American Novel in comics inspired him. [45] From the original, more detailed 1972 "Maus" strip Eisner Awards staff (2012). "Complete List of Eisner Award Winners". San Diego Comic-Con International. Archived from the original on April 27, 2011 . Retrieved January 31, 2012. He was just about to run away when the Mouse remembered how the Lion could have eaten him but let him go. And then the Mouse remembered saying: ‘I will help you, Mr Lion. One day. Just you wait and see.’ It shows people hanging,” he said. “It shows them killing kids. Why does the education system promote this kind of stuff? It is not wise or healthy.” Obst, Peter. "A Commentary on Maus by Art Spiegelman". American Council for Polish Culture . Retrieved May 16, 2012.Young, James E. (2006). "The Arts of Jewish Memory in a Postmodern Age". In Rüsen, Jörn (ed.). Meaning and Representation in History. Berghahn Books. pp.239–254. ISBN 978-1-57181-776-1. Scholar Bart Beaty disagrees with claims from other critics that Maus presents a fatalistic perspective. Rather, he argues that Maus problematizes the essentialistic understanding of the relationship between the German "cats" and Jewish "mice," or the notion that there is something natural about Germans killing Jewish people. [191] Bolhafner, J. Stephen (October 1991). "Art for Art's Sake". The Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books. 348 (145): 96–99. Bibcode: 1990Natur.348..280C. doi: 10.1038/348280d0. ISSN 0194-7869. Efforts have also emerged to make Maus more accessible to students. One professor at a North Carolina college offered eighth-grade and high-school students in McMinn county a free online class. Pekar, Harvey (April 1990). "Blood and Thunder". The Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books. 302 (135): 27–34. Bibcode: 1983Natur.302..784D. doi: 10.1038/302784a0. ISSN 0194-7869.

Weiner, Stephen (2003). Faster than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel. NBM Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56163-368-5. Fagan, Bryan D.; Fagan, Jody Condit (2011). "Medium or Genre?". Comic Book Collections for Libraries. ABC-CLIO. p.3. ISBN 978-1-59884-511-2.Langer, Lawrence L (December 6, 1998). "A Fable Of The Holocaust". The New York Times . Retrieved August 28, 2012. Berger, James (1999). After the End: Representations of Post-Apocalypse. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-2932-9. a b Chris Boyette (January 28, 2022). "A Tennessee school board removed the graphic novel 'Maus', about the Holocaust, from curriculum due to language and nudity concerns". CNN. Ahrens, Jörn; Meteling, Arno (2010). Comics and the City: Urban Space in Print, Picture, and Sequence. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8264-4019-8. Spiegelman, like many of his critics, has expressed concern that "[r]eality is too much for comics... so much has to be left out or distorted", admitting that his presentation of the story may not be accurate. [84] He takes a postmodern approach; Maus "feeds on itself", telling the story of how the story was made. It examines the choices Spiegelman made in the retelling of his father's memories, and the artistic choices he had to make. For example, when his French wife converts to Judaism, Spiegelman's character frets over whether to depict her as a frog, a mouse, or another animal. [85]

Kaplan, Arie (2008). From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 978-0-8276-0843-6.Reizbaum, Marilyn (2000). Silberstein, Laurence Jay (ed.). Mapping Jewish Identities. New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9769-3.

Kannenberg, Gene Jr. (February 1999). Groth, Gary (ed.). "#4: Maus". The Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books (210). ISSN 0194-7869. Oh, thank you,’ said the Mouse. ‘I think that’s a very wise decision. I meant what I said. I will help you, Mr Lion. One day. Just you wait and see.’New York Times staff (March 11, 1987). "Awards for Books With Jewish Themes". The New York Times . Retrieved January 30, 2012. Wood, Monica (1997). "Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Volumes I and II, by Art Spiegelman". 12 Multicultural Novels: Reading and Teacher Strategies. Walch Publishing. pp.81–94. ISBN 978-0-8251-2901-8.