Spiegelman Book 1

In the first series of Art Spiegelman's Maus Spiegelman describes his father's experience living in Nazi occupied Europe.  Spiegelman switches from the present time where his father and his new wife discuss how they despise each other to his story of struggling to survive in Poland during World War II.  The Holocaust is a hard issue to discuss but Spiegelman keeps the reader in the story by occasionally stopping the Holocaust description and focusing on him trying to make the book and discuss his father's problems.  the occasional break allows the reader to take a break from the cruelty of the Nazi regime and so to speak catch your breath before resuming the story. Making the faces of the Jews, Germans, and Polish people of animals also helps tell the story.  I thought one of the best drawings was of Vladek (Art's father) and his mother Anja disguised as Pigs which is the animal chosen to represent the Polish.  Vladek says that he was able to blend in more but his wife looked more Jewish.  the picture drawn shows Anja's mouse tail reveled while Vladek's is tucked in his clothing to represent this.