The Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel "Maus" was removed from an eighth-grade language arts curriculum in Tennessee due to concerns about profanity and an image of female nudity in its depiction of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust.
The vote by the McMinn County School Board, which only began attracting attention Wednesday, comes amid a number of battles in school systems around the world as conservatives target curriculums over teachings about the history of slavery and racism in America.
Art Spiegelman told CNBC that he was confused by the unanimous vote by the McMinn board.
The 73-year-old Spiegelman only learned of the ban after it was the subject of a social media post.
The school board was called for its action by him.
The book that tells the story of his Jewish parents' time in Nazi concentration camps, the mass murder of other Jews by Nazis, and his mother, is the reason that the members of the group were motivated less about some mild curse words and more by it.
I've met so many young people who have learned from my book.
There is something going on very, very haywire in Tennessee.
Since 2000, every Republican presidential nominee has won Tennessee. Donald Trump won McMinn County with 80 percent of the votes.
Neil Gaiman, the author of "The Sandman" and other award-winning works, blasted the school board's action, writing "There is only one kind."
Sharon Brown did not respond to the email asking about the ban of the book.
The cats are Nazi Germans who had a notorious history of banning and burning books, and the Jews are depicted as mice. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992.
The Director of School Lee Parkison opened the meeting by saying that the values of the county are understood. Two or three of you came by my office to discuss the rough language in the book after hearing from many of you that it was objectionable.
Parkison said he consulted with our attorney and decided to redact the language in the book.
Parkison said that they decided to redact it to get rid of the curse words and the picture of the woman that was objected to.
The minutes show that the board members were worried about violating the book's copyright.
Tony Allman was quoted in the minutes as saying, "We don't need to enable or promote this stuff."
According to the minutes, Allman said that the educational system promotes this kind of stuff because it shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, and it is not wise or healthy.
Julie Goodin, an assistant principal, replied to Allman, saying that she was a history teacher and that this was a great way to depict a horrible time in history.
Mr. Spiegelman did his best to depict his mother's passing away, but we are almost 80 years away. Goodin said that it was hard for this generation, they were not even born. Are the words offensive? It's not changing the meaning of what he is trying to portray, but it is taking away the first part.
Allman told Goodin that he understood that on TV and maybe at home these kids hear worse, but they are talking about things that if a student went down the hallway and said this, our policy says they can be disciplined and rightfully. We are teaching against policy.
The board voted to removeMaus from the eighth-grade curriculum.
Shamblin told CNBC he didn't remember when the board voted. He referred questions to Brown, the board's president.
After his publisher asked for a bookmark that could be distributed to libraries, Spiegelman created one and sent it to CNBC.
It says keep your nose in a book and keep other people's noses out of which books you choose.
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