The most heavily contested book in America? It's 'And Tango Makes Three,' children's book about penguins

Our friends at The Times' books blog, Jacket Copy, have alerted us to the fact that it's the 27th annual Banned Books Week.  

Now, in the good ol' days of book-banning, groups joined together to rid the world of filth such as Joyce's "Ulysses," Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five."

Nowadays, though, the most heavily contested book in the U.S. is not faulted by its critics for its use of strong language, violence or perceived vulgarity. It's "And Tango Makes Three," a children's picture book about two real-life penguins that live in New York's Central Park Zoo. Roy and Silo, to be sure, aren't the most common of penguin pairs -- both are male -- but the children's book about them, which emphasizes the importance of tolerance to youngsters, hardly seems contentious.

A few years back, Roy and Silo seemed so desperate to hatch a chick that, undeterred by the fact that neither of them had the necessary anatomy to lay an egg, they placed a rock in their nest and tried to incubate it. Eventually, keepers gave them a fertile egg to care for, and they successfully hatched and raised a female chick -- the Tango of the book's title. 

Hardly the stuff of Steinbeck, but the books critics have attempted to have it banned from schools and libraries citing reasons including homosexual and "anti-family" themes. (Anti-family? It seems decidedly pro-family to us -- and pro-penguin to boot.)  Poor penguins -- if it's not a female penguin homewrecker breaking up their same-sex partnership, it's someone trying to ban their book.  

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Gay penguin dads in German zoo hatch their first chick

-- Lindsay Barnett

Comments

[Leslye Seymour]

TRULY INSANE, IF THESE PENGUINS FEEL THE NEED TO PROCREATE AND NURTURE, THEN BY THE LOVE OF GOD (creator of all things) LET THEM BE. THESE EXTREME GROUPS, GAYS, LESBIANS, ETC... NEED A LIFE AND LET ALL OTHERS ALONE. I AM NOT ANTI- ANYTHING BUT THE U.S. HAS GONE WAY TOO FAR. NO PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IN OUR SCHOOLS AND SO ON. THIS IS AMERICA AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE OUR WAYS AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES GO BACK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY. IF YOUR COUNTRY IS SO GREAT THAN WHY ARE YOU HERE ??? NOW IF YOU WANT A JOB THESE DAYS YOU MUST SPEAK SPANISH !!! HOW ABOUT YOU LEARN AND SPEAK ENGLISH !!! I AM SOON LOOKING INTO RESIDENCY IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, NOT THAT I WANT TO. BUT AMERICA IS GOING TO CRUMBLE AND I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT HAPPEN. STILL A PROUD AMERICAN SOON TO BE AN UNHAPPY, UNINSURED, JOBLESS PERSON IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY. NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE U.S. AND SOME OTHER COUNTRY, AT LEAST THIS WAY I DON'T HAVE TO WITNESS THE FURTHER DECLINE OF AMERICA. ( ONCE REMEMBERED AS) AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL. LESLYE J. SEYMOUR NEW YORK

[Ann Asay]

Is your caps lock key broken? Are you vehemently posting from the viewpoint and opinion of some other type of extremist, or both? How did a children's book about penguins in a NY city zoo stir up all this hatred? Are you suggesting that people moving here from other countries is the cause of gay penguins? The "beauty" this country was known for has been in "decline" for 517 years. You post as if being bilingual is a requirement for every job. I should not be surprised by such ignorance nor your desire to remain less educated. I never thought that furthering one's education, advancing one's ability to communicate and making oneself more lucrative in the job market was cause for such strife. Please enjoy your life in a foreign country. I'm sure they will happily welcome a disgruntled amerikkkan anytime.