This week I want to share a book about careful observation, kindness, families, penguins and love. Sounds like wonderful content, and it is. However, it has been banned countless times since it was published.
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and illustrated by Henry Cole (Simon & Schuster, 2005) is a true story about a pair of male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who seemingly fall in love because they pair up together and exhibit the same behavior that males and females who pair together do during the mating season. One of the zookeepers was very attentive and noticed this and their attempts to hatch a rock. So, when another penguin couple produced two eggs – and could only care for one – the keeper gave an egg to the two males who successfully hatched and raised the chick together.
Princeton University’s Children’s Library has a page that states: “This book was very popular and won multiple awards including: the ALA’s Notable Children’s Book Nominee in 2006, the ASPCA Henry Bergh Book Award in 2005, and was named one of the Bank Street Best Books of the Year in 2006. It was lauded as a great book for parents and educators to use for introducing children to diversity of families and to the idea of homosexual couples. Part of the appeal of And Tango Makes Three is that it is based on a true story.”
One of many reasons we read is to get that introduction, those glimpses into unfamiliar ideas, truths, and ways of being. And yet, there are people who want to tell us what to read so that we cannot be informed, are not shown examples of other cultures/ways of being and cannot make our own informed choices. This blog is not intended to state my opinions on every book I read (or to digress into political commentary or culture wars debates). I do not review books I do not like because it is not my place to censor that author’s voice just because I disagree (if I came across a lot of factual errors I might, but that is different than my opinion).
Many people feel differently. A School Library Journal article written by Besty Bird states, “ And since its initial publication that book has been challenged and banned countless times. Heck, the American Library Association has reported that it was the most frequently challenged book between 2006-2010, and the second most frequently challenged in 2009. It was also the fourth-most banned book between 2000 and 2009, and the sixth-most banned book between 2010 and 2019.”
It seems to me that a lot of time and money is spent trying to ban books – actions which give such books the publicity and intrigue that the banners are trying to thwart. Whatever your opinion on the subject of banned books, I am here to say that I think And Tango Makes Three is a wonderful book and that you and your young reader may agree. It is your choice.
Lisa Connors 
Amen! And amen!