It’s Banned Books Week!

In 2015 we are celebrating Young Adult Literature!

To celebrate Banned Books week (I am a librarian, after all) I’m going to do “banned books-related” blog posts all this week! Today I’m going to review one of this years Top Ten Most Frequently Banned Books!

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And Tango Makes Three

Richardson, Justin, Peter Parnell, and Henry Cole. And Tango Makes Three. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005. Print.

Suggested reading age/grade: Toddler to 3^rd grade

My Review:

New York City’s Central Park Zoo has many different families. There are human families visiting for the day, and, of course, the many different animal families who reside there. Among these residents are the beloved and silly Penguins. Just like the rest of us, these Penguins often pair up and create families. Roy and Silo are two such Penguins, but the girl penguins don’t notice them, and they don’t notice the girl penguins. Instead they notice each other, and spend most of every minute together. When the other penguin pairs start to build nests, and get ready to build families for those nests, Roy and Silo build their nest too, noticing a little bemusedly that theirs was a good nest, but “a little bit empty.” Confused about how to fix this little problem, they choose a rock to put in the nest, and they snuggle it and take care of it just like the other penguin pairs take care of their eggs. Roy and Silo are more than a little perplexed when the other eggs become baby penguins, and their rock stays a rock. A kindly zookeeper lights upon the idea to put an extra egg into Roy and Silo’s nest, sparking Roy and Silo’s beautiful journey to becoming parents and completing their “different” family. This alluring and poignant tale of love and family easily transcends its initial simple “true story” re-telling and speaks directly to the heart of what makes a family. Penguin and animal lovers will adore the brightly colored and sometimes silly representations of the penguins and other zoo animals. Readers will be swept into the bright watercolor images, which underline the hopeful and optimistic feeling of the story and the playful, humorous depictions of the two penguins’ trials and tribulations on their journey to their happy family outcome. And Tango Makes Three is ultimately a sweet and heartwarming tale about the power of love and the sometimes unconventional making of a family. Parents and children will come back to this book again and again and libraries will not want to miss this charming addition to their collections.

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Extras:

• An article from New York Public Library about “And Tango Makes Three” being banned
• Heres an article about this book from School Library Journal

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