Banned Books trivia
Banned Books Mini Quiz
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
In Maus, Art Spiegelman draws which nationality as mice?
In the comic, Spiegelman chose mice because the Nazis treated Jews as subhuman vermin, and he leans into that brutal comparison.
How does Maus present Vladek's Holocaust memories?
Art records Vladek's memories in the present while the drawings reconstruct Vladek's wartime experiences.
Before World War II, what business did Vladek run in Poland?
Vladek ran a textile factory in prewar Poland before Nazi persecution upended his family's life.
What aspect of Lolita led to bans and censorship in some countries?
Publishers and censors objected to the novel's depiction of Humbert's sexual exploitation of Dolores, a twelve-year-old girl.
Which language did Vladimir Nabokov use for the original version of Lolita?
Nabokov later translated Lolita into Russian, so the English text is the original rather than a translation.
What real-world event does the graphic novel Maus primarily depict?
The story is based on Spiegelman's interviews with his own father, Vladek, about his experiences in Auschwitz.
Why does Art Spiegelman draw the cats in Maus as the oppressors?
Spiegelman had his cats literally lurk and brutalize the mice, so the violence feels instinctive and animalistic, not a choice.
Which prize did Beloved win for fiction?
Morrison's novel won the 1988 fiction prize for portraying an enslaved mother's struggle with memory and trauma.
Which concern did a Tennessee school board cite when removing Maus from its curriculum?
The board also cited nudity, violence, and suicide; its stated objections focused on content, not the Holocaust.
In Maus, which animal represents Jewish characters?
The animal imagery turns Nazi propaganda's vermin stereotypes into a tool for exposing racist thinking.