Tennessee school district bans Holocaust graphic novel 'Maus' over 'inappropriate language'

This photo taken in Los Angeles, California on January 27, 2022 shows the cover of the graphic novel "Maus" by Art Spiegelman. (Photo by MARO SIRANOSIAN/AFP via Getty Images)ATHENS, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee school district has voted to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust due to "inappropriate language" and an illustration of a nude woman, according to minutes from a board meeting.The McMinn County School Board decided Jan.

10 to remove "Maus" from its curriculum, news outlets reported.Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for the work that tells the story of his Jewish parents living in 1940s Poland and depicts him interviewing his father about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor.In an interview, Spiegelman told CNBC he was "baffled" by the school board’s decision and called the action "Orwellian.""It’s leaving me with my jaw open, like, ‘What?’" he said.The decision comes as conservative officials across the country have increasingly tried to limit the type of books that children are exposed to, including books that address structural racism and LGBTQ issues.

The Republican governors in South Carolina and Texas have called on superintendents to perform a systemic review of "inappropriate" materials in their states’ schoolsThe minutes from the school board meeting indicate objections over some of the language used in "Maus." At first, Director of Schools Lee Parkison suggested redacting it "to get rid of the eight curse words and the picture of the woman that was objected to."The nude woman is drawn as a mouse.