OBOC is LAVC's common read program. Each academic year, a new book is selected, which is read throughout courses and across disciplines. The OBOC initiative cultivates opportunities for creativity, scholarship, critical thinking, and academic dialog. It creates a shared intellectual experience for students, faculty, administration and staff.
The OBOC program works to promote reading and equity in our campus community. Books are selected to support students' sense of belonging; increase successful outcomes of underperforming groups; and ensure a campus climate that supports diversity.
Book nominations are accepted year-round.
The LAVC Library has several print copies of Maus available on reserve for 3-day checkout. Visit the Library in person if you're interested in borrowing a copy.
The Los Angeles Public library also has many copies of this book available for checkout.
The One Book, One College program thanks the following professors for using Maus in the classroom this year to promote reading, equity, and diversity:
1. Dylan Altman -- English
2. Holly Batty -- English
3. Fatema Baldiwala -- English
4. Alicia Bien -- English
5. Beth Brown -- English
6. Pamela Byrd Williams – Biology
7. Diane Cunningham -- Economics / Sociology
8. Patrick Hunter -- English
9. Jessica Mintz -- English
10. Millie Moncada -- English
11. Kimberly Robeson -- English
12. La Vergne Rosow – English
13. Lily Salter -- English
14. Elizabeth Thornton -- English
15. Michelle Visco -- History
Additional thanks to the following faculty and administrators for supporting Maus this year: Yi-Mei Hu (Music), Christian Nova (Music), Jenene Nagy (Art), Maria del Carmen Cortez Dominguez (Dean of Academic Affairs Arts, Media & Design), Deborah diCesare (Dean of Humanities and Communication), and LAVC President, Barry Gribbons.
The bestselling first installment of the graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” (The New Yorker). The only graphic novel to ever win the Pulitzer Prize, this is a “Banned and Challenged Books Everyone Should Read” (Variety).
A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.
Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.
Though published in 1986, Maus started making headlines again in 2022 after a Tennessee school board voted unanimously to ban the book from its curriculum. Learn about the controversy and explore other Banned Books available from the LAVC Library.
Further reading on the recent book-banning controversy:
MAUS: The comics that won the Pulitzer Prize (an excerpt from "The Art Of Spiegelman"):
