The First Graphic Novel to Win the Pulitzer

Maus was the first graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize. Since then, only one other graphic novel has won, 26 years later in 2018, Jake Halpern won for "Welcome to the New World." But at least graphic novels have become more mainstream now!

#pulitzerprize #maus #booktube

[DrawntoBooks]

Just to clarify, I did not mean to suggest that kids can't/shouldn't read Maus (they absolutely can and should!). I just meant that differing from most of the comics that came before it, Maus was marketed for and made for adults. Art Spiegelman did not make Maus with children in mind.

[catastrophicfailure]

“decidedly not for kids” as in it’s not made with flashy colors and superheroes like most media made for kids, but it is definitely a book that can be used as an amazing delivery for youth to be able to understand just how devastating and gruesome the holocaust was. it’s not made for kids in the sense that it’s made to entertain, it’s made to teach.

[Quesoquantum]

I saw this on a "banned book" section of novels in B&N. They had the reason for their banning and a few copies to buy. I find that liberating

[cyrusquartz]

Post-Comics Code comics were mostly about superheroes and kids. Underground/indie comics have always existed for adults. It’s a common misconception but it’s something that makes me really sad that people don’t know about as a lover of underground comics from the mid-century.

[blacksmith]

Spiegelman’s raw depiction of the suffering of ‘mice’ in Maus is masterful and gut wrenching at the same time. I was used to the genre of adult cartoons thanks to an adolescent interest in Heavy Metal magazine when I first read it. It differed in that it was social commentary on a historical subject rather than being set in a post apocalyptic or alternate reality. To say that it was profound is an understatement.

I agree that it wasn’t written for children, but I would happily see it added to the high school curriculum alongside Shakespeare and all the other classics.

[Elijah_Gillard]

I haven't read it yet, but arguabley Maus is still kind of 'for kids' not as enjoyment, but to teach

[maryle]

I had to read this for history class in high school and it was one of the things that stuck with me the most! There have been so many incredible stories written through the graphic novel medium since then. Thankful for this great piece of work!

[avashool]

For anyone looking for more graphic novels for adults, I’d recommend Persepolis. Great story

[Bugsprayyy]

This is a book we’re covering in my high school English class and it’s amazing. It’s just. Brilliant.

[theinnocentxeno]

It’s not about a young mouse hearing his father’s recounting of his life. It’s Art Spiegelman asking his father, Vladek Spiegelman, in the present to tell us his past for a book Art was working on. That book being the one you are actively reading. It was done through the medium of a graphic novel since Art was a cartoonist. Obviously you don’t need all of that for a short but replacing mouse with the author’s name adds a lot of necessary context for the book.

Maus and Maus II are fantastic works that I highly recommend everyone reads at some point. It is not a difficult read in the slightest, it is a graphic novel after all, though I do recommend you pay close attention to the illustrations and question why they are the way they are. The books are dripping with hidden layers of meaning that can be easily overlooked and there is many things that you have to question the meaning of.

[connorpeterman]

Also released in 1986 were the ground breaking comics Batman Year One (which established the gritty/grim tone of batman we see today) and the beginning issues of Watchmen (which would later make an appearance in Time Magazines 2005 list of the 100 Greatest NOVELS written since 1923).

What a great year for comics :)

[BlackNightmare]

Read this book in English class and honestly, it was good, usually the books in that class aren’t my type but this one was different

[GJ]

"Maus is decidedly not for kids" I remember reading it as a kid. It might explain a few things about me now TBH.

[DSQueenie]

This is When the Wind Blows erasure. It was released in 1982 and was about two elderly people in rural England dying after surviving a nuclear bomb being dropped.

[jakesyoutubezone]

I know you’re trying to make quick snappy tiktoks but the “graphic storytelling was just superheroes for babies until 1986” is a crazy statement.

[LilFeralGangrel]

Before 1954 and the advent of the Comics Code Authority (which modeled its code after the Hays Code of 1940) comic books weren't just about superheroes.

The current reputation that American comic books have comes from decades of censorship. That's why books like the Dark Knight Returns, Swamp Thing and Watchmen are so important because they started the process that led to the demise of the CCA.

[redwonder]

I read both books in high school and they hit me hard but not in a bad way. They are very heavy material books but extremely important to learn about. Maus 2 struck a cord with me in particular. Loved reading them both. I really should read them again.

[sameerakhan]

Oh, this is absolutely great! I got to know of Maus thanks to it coming up on my google feed and I've always been a lookout to find it whenever I visit a book store. Been unlucky so far but it's interesting because I didn't know it was what greatly popularised the term graphic novel.
Cool short! Learnt something new for something I'm greatly interested in

[ezzie_aus]

We studied this in my year 7 ethics class back in the mid 00’s. It’s basically required reading in most schools here.

[tallulahraccoon]

It's for kids too but I would advise that you read along with them to explain some things. I've read it in my local library when I was 10 years old. The librarian helped me understand the historical context of the story. I just thought that is was a very dark and grown up story at first. I think it was my first real confrontation with the reality of war between ppl and what it means for humans to have to endure such a szenario. It also helped me tremendously to understand that art doesn't has to be happy and is in fact a tool for healing for many ppl.

It's one of those stories that creates empathy and grows your character. ❤