Maus

"Maus"(which is pronounced "mouse" by the way) is the true story of the writer's (or drawer's) father, Vladek Speigelman's journey through the holocaust. There are some clever twists to the book which you need to understand before you read it. First of all it's a graphic novel so it is more like a comic but I think it still feels like a book. Secondly it uses a number of metaphors which you need to understand before you read it, the Jews are mice, the Germans are cats, the Americans are dogs and the Polish are pigs. Thirdly the book isn't told as if you are there at the time of the holocaust, it is told as he's is writing it which also shows you how he wrote it and what was also going on at that time.

  What I liked about the book was that it didn't try make things seem better or worse than they were it just told you how it was and what the Jews did to survive. I would recommend it to ages 11 and up because it is quite grown up as well as having some, not exactly child friendly, language. It is called "Maus" because, funnily enough, it is the german word for mouse. Overall I thought it was an exiting, witty and truthful book.

By Kit Livsey