Maus

Review by Sierra Mitchell
=  = = = Maus is a tale of a son’s dedication to his father, in writing a memoir of his father’s life during the Holocaust, and different tricks he learned to survive. It also involves the dysfunctional present day relationship between father and son, and how they learn from each other when discussing their family’s past. The book shows ways people survived the Holocaust. It describes the battle front during the war, and how people in the war were captured by German soldiers. It also talks about the emotional impacts of war, and certain sacrifices people needed to make to insure the safety of their families. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Because it is a graphic novel, it allowed me to actually see what was happening, while reading, which made it a whole different experience. This book is for almost anyone. If you are interested in taking your time reading to look at details, this is the book for you. If you don’t like being distracted by pictures, maybe not, but if you give it a chance like I did, I believe the experience would be worth it.

Review by Wallace Brumfield
A young comic book artist is interested with the 1930s and wants to make a report about his father’s life during the time and make it into a comic book. His father Vladek Spiegelman told him about his memories about the holocaust and how he survived. He told his son about him being capture and put in war camps ran by the Germans and how he was dehumanized and was hiding from Nazis. He used his knowledge and wasn’t slain like the other millions who were killed. He even stayed in a German house and put on masks so he can look German. He seen people die severely and been abused by the Nazis this took a lot of bravery and courage for a man to do during this time because if he was caught he would be killed by a German official.

This book has a connection with Night, because both main characters were separated from their family members and were sent to camps. Vladek and Ellie both had to have courage and be strong so they can survive during this terrible time. While in the camps they both witnessed death. They also both had to be separated by sex so Ellie was separated from his mom and Vladek was separated from his wife.

I think this book was good because it kept my attention. The book was unpredictable and was entertaining to me. Vladek was my favorite charather of the book because he was adventurous and did things that were very brave. I recommend this book to any 10th grade student interested in the holocaust. The type of reader I would recommend this book to is someone who loves adventures.

=Reviewed by Phido= In the book, “Maus” by Art Spiegelman, Vladek is telling his son about his experiences during World War II. The story is about a Jewish boy in Czestochowa, he married to a girl named Anja in America. But after a few years, he was taking to war and soon became Nazi prisoner. He then escape from the camp and went home. The Nazi then went to Vladek neborhood and just took Jews away. He and his family was struggle to survived.

This book shows how bad it was back then in Europe because of Nazi. A lot of people were killed. For example: A lot of Jew and German prisoners. The Nazi put Jew and prisoner in a work camp and soon was put to dead. In the camp, the Nazi didn’t provided enough shelter and that led to thousand of dead. This book is easy but it gets right to the point. It describes everything every well. I like how each chapters of the book leave the reader wonder what happen next. The books used easy-to-understand language and back it up with picture showing what happen. This book has some happy and sad moment. This book helps me understand the book better and it help me get better images of the book.

I think this book is a good book to read because it explain everything very well and giving the reader a good images of what going on in each sentences

**Reviewed by Octavio** In the book, "Maus" by Art spiegellman, its related to the World War II. This is simalar to the movie we watched in class. this book has how the Nazzi took over the Jews. thi book really gives u good images to icture in your head.

The main characters in this book are Artie and Vladek. Artie has no mom he was just left with his dad. Artie's dad went to several camps. And his son is the one writing all about what his dad tells him.

Artie likes writing so he always asks his dad to tell him a story or something in his life that has happen, than Artie writes about that. Sometimes Vldek tells his son that he can't write everylittle thing he says because its not good.This is a great book to read.

=Review by Dan Schaefer = Maus: A Survivor's Tale is a memoir by Art Spiegelman, presented as a graphic novel. It recounts the struggle of Spiegelman's father to survive the Holocaust as a Polish Jew and draws largely on his father's recollections of his experiences. The book also follows the author's troubled relationship with his father and the way the effects of war reverberate through generations of a family. The book alternates the stories told by Spiegelman's father Vladek Spiegelman about life in Poland before and during the Second World War with the contemporary life of Art, Vladek and their loved ones in the Rego Park neighborhood of New York City.

The book recounts the struggle of Vladek Spiegelman living with his family in Radomsko, Czestochowa, Sosnowiec and Bielsko in the late 1930s and his tragic odyssey during the war which ultimately led him to Auschwitz as prisoner 175113. The book has a satirical feel about it since the characters are all presented as various types of anthropomorphic animals, according to nationality or race. Throughout the book, Art Spiegelman confronts his complex and often conflicted relationship with his father. For example, Vladek exhibits racial prejudice against blacks despite his own experiences of anti-Semitism. He is also presented as stingy and a person who makes life very difficult for those around him, including his first wife Anja (Art's mother, who committed suicide) and his second wife Mala, both concentration camp survivors. The personality of the present day Vladek seems quite different from that of the man in the concentration camps, where he was resourceful and compassionate.

The use of animals in the graphic novel may seem incongruous, but instead of creating social stereotypes, Spiegelman attempts to lampoon them and show how stupid it is to classify a human being based on nationality or ethnicity. The animal use may also be used in order to detach the reader from real life. This may have been done to appeal to a younger generation of readers, yet still telling a story of survival and death during the holocaust. But instead of fully detaching the reader from the book, he shows a human aspect by illustrating how his father tells his story and by showing the emotions and relationships of the characters throughout.

Because I already had a liking for comics and graphic novels, I picked Maus as my book of choice because it had what I was interested in plus the holocaust details. It’s capturing story and detailed pictures. I mostly recommend it for people like me who like and appreciate detailed adventures. It’s a fast read, and it’s a greater representation of Jewish hardships and Nazi atrocities. So if you’re still trying to decide on what your free choice book will be, pick up Art Spiegelman’s critically praised heart stopper Maus.