‘And Tango Makes Three' Challenged Again

Print |

Reprint/License |

Subscription |

RSS |

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 01/18/2010

Despite one father’s attempt to remove And Tango Makes Three (S & S, 2005) from his city’s school system, the North Kansas City Schools Board of Education recently voted 3 to 2 to keep the story of two male penguins and their baby chick on school shelves.

However, parents now have the ability to view card catalogs for all K–12 school libraries from home and individually restrict their own child’s reading material. Before the ruling in December, only parents of middle and high school students could view the book titles from their home computers.

“We just created a simple generic log-in so elementary school parents can get on there,” says Jo Burton, Communications Director for North Kansas City Schools (NKCS).

John Dixon, the parent of a child at Bell Prairie Elementary School, first made his written request for the removal of the picture book to the school on September 14, 2009.

“This book is completely offensive to parents wishing to shelter their child as much as possible from immoral behavior,” wrote Dixon on his request for reconsideration of materials, asking to have the story removed from all North Kansas City Schools. “Even parents we have spoken with who are not as conservative were offended by the content.”

When an internal committee made up of parents, teachers, administrators, and librarians agreed to retain the book, Dixon appealed to a subcommittee of the school board, made up of its president Spencer Fields, vice president Chace Ramey, and treasurer Kathleen Harris, says Burton.

“They decided to uphold to previous recommendation,” says Burton.

Dixon pressed on, appealing before the entire board, which again voted to keep the book on school shelves.

The parent of a child at Bell Prairie Elementary School made his written request for the removal of the picture book on September14, 2009.

“As a board, we discussed our perspectives on the matter and considered legal advice prior to making a decision,” says Harris, by email, who was among the three members, including Ramey and board member Melissa Joy Roberts, who voted to keep the book in the general circulation without restrictions.

Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s picture book And Tango Makes Three has become a lightening rod of a story, even though it’s based on the true tale of two male chinstrap penguins from New York City’s Central Park Zoo who lived as a couple, hatched a spare egg, and raised a female chick named Tango.

The American Library Association named the story the most challenged book for 2008, 2007, and 2006.

While voting to retain this story, NKCS has removed other books from school libraries, including a nonfiction drug awareness series in the 2008–2009 year because of inaccurate information, says Burton, as well Rachel Vail’s Do Over (Scholastic, 1992), which deals with issues including bigotry and divorce.

“It’s not uncommon to have occasional requests like this,” she says.

Yet Harris says this was only the second time she has seen a request to have a title removed in her six years as a board member. And does she expect there to be any further ones?

“There is always that possibility,” she says.