Gee whiz, listening to all the wailing going on about the book, "Maus," one would think it is the only book ever written about the Holocaust. According to Google there have been over 20,000 books written about the event with more coming every year. Scholastic Magazine recommends no less than 24 books for instructing students in grades 1-12 of the events surrounding this horrible event and "Maus," is not one of them.
And to my knowledge, despite the screeching about book burning, not one book has been burned or even banned to the general public in McMinn County. You want little Joey or Buffy to learn about the Holocaust? Give them, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," by William L Shirer, the "Diary of Anne Frank," or Herman Wouk's magnificent works of historical fiction, "The Winds of War," and "War and Remembrance".
Hitler was a monster. Most historians hold him responsible for 17 million deaths during his reign of terror. Stalin was worse, killing between 20-30 million Russians. But the biggest killer of all time was Mao who is generally believed to have killed 70 million during his time.
This brings up an interesting question, how many books on the Mao and Stalin holocausts are in school libraries?
Douglas Jones
Ooltewah
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Good information from Doug Jones. My suggestion to parents and guardians is this: If you want your child / ward to read a certain book, you buy it and let them read it at home. Pretty simple to me.
Ernie McCarson