Timeline entry for 2006: And Tango Makes Three

Banned Books Week, Censorship

It’s the second day of Banned Books Week! Throughout the week, we will continue to highlight one book from its new timeline of banned and challenged books each day. Today we feature the year 2006 and “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

And Tango Makes Three book cover“And Tango Makes Three” is a picture book based on a true story of two male penguins that adopted an egg at New York City’s Central Park Zoo in the late 1990s. In 2006, it was moved from the children’s fiction section to children’s nonfiction at two Rolling Hill’s Consolidated Library branches in Savannah and St. Joseph, MO, after parents complained it had homosexual undertones. It was also challenged at the Shiloh, IL Elementary School library, where a committee of school employees and a parent suggested the book be moved to a separate shelf, requiring parent permission before checkout. The school’s superintendent, however, rejected the proposal and the book remained on open library shelves. “Tango” ranked as ALA’s most frequently challenged book for a record four years in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010.

For more information about Banned Books Week, please visit www.ala.org/bbooks.

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