The Inside Story of the Banning of "Maus." It's Dumber Than You Think.by David Corn

The  Bureau Chief for Mother Jones, read the minutes of the McMinn County, Tenn., school board that banned Art Spiegelman's Pulitzer-Prize winning graphic novel, MAUS. They were worried that students in middle schools might hear words like "b*tch" and "god damn," & were upset by nude mice; some had never read the book (maybe all). Educators defended the use of the book & tried again to reason with the board, pointing out that the numerous books taught in the system contain “foul language,” including Bridge to Terabithia, The Whipping Boy, & To Kill a Mockingbird.  It was hopeless.  Mike Cochran piped up: “I went to school here thirteen years…I never had a book with a naked picture in it, never had one with foul language…So this idea that we have to have this kind of material in the class in order to teach history, I don’t buy it.We don’t need all the nakedness and all the other stuff.”