Book Title: And Tango Makes Three
Authors: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Illustrator: Henry Cole
First Published: 2005

Why It's Been Challenged:

• Depicts a same-sex relationship (between penguins)
• "Promotes homosexuality" to children
• "Conflicts" with family values
• "Age-inappropriate" discussions of family structures

The Story

Based on a true story from New York's Central Park Zoo, this book tells the tale of Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins who form a pair bond. They build a nest together, bow to each other, and walk through the park side by side just like the other penguin couples.

When they notice the other penguins hatching eggs, Roy and Silo try to hatch a rock. A zookeeper observes their devotion and gives them an egg that needs care. Roy and Silo take turns keeping it warm, and eventually, a baby penguin named Tango hatches. The three become a family.

The "Issues"

And Tango Makes Three has topped the ALA's most challenged books list multiple times since its publication, making it one of the most consistently targeted children's books in recent history.

Critics claim:

• "It promotes homosexuality": The book depicts what actually happened at the Central Park Zoo. Roy and Silo are real penguins who really did form a pair bond and successfully raise a chick together. The book doesn't "promote" anything; it reports a biological reality that occurs across hundreds of animal species.
• "It conflicts with family values": This critique assumes there's only one kind of family that counts. But children live in all kinds of families: single parents, grandparents raising grandkids, blended families, adoptive families, foster families, and yes, families with two moms or two dads. Representation isn't indoctrination.
• "It's age-inappropriate": There is nothing sexual in this book. It's about companionship, caregiving, and raising a baby. If the story featured a male and female penguin doing the exact same activities, no one would call it inappropriate. The discomfort isn't about age-appropriateness - it's about homophobia.
• "Parents should decide what their kids are exposed to": Parents absolutely have that right for their own children. But challenging a book in a library or school removes it for everyone's children. One family's discomfort shouldn't dictate what all families can access.

Why It Matters

For LGBTQ+ kids and kids being raised by same-sex parents, this book is a mirror. It tells them their families are real, valid, and worthy of celebration. 

For kids being raised in heterosexual households, it's a window. It teaches them that families come in many forms and that love looks different for different people and that's okay.

Picture books are often a child's first introduction to the wider world. When we ban books like And Tango Makes Three, we're telling LGBTQ+ kids that their existence is controversial. We're teaching all children that some families are "normal" and others are up for debate. 

Final Thoughts

And Tango Makes Three is challenged because it makes visible what some people would rather keep invisible. It refuses to pretend that same-sex relationships don't exist in nature or in our communities. It gently, age-appropriately introduces the concept that families are built on care and not configuration.

Children are naturally accepting. They don't arrive in the world with homophobia; they learn it from adults. When we give kids books that reflect the diversity of the world they actually live in, we're not corrupting them. We're preparing them to be kind, informed, empathetic people.

Banning this book doesn't protect children. It isolates LGBTQ+ youth, erases same-sex parent families, and teaches all kids that difference is something to fear rather than understand.

Let's not ban books that teach love and acceptance. Let's read them and trust that children are capable of understanding what adults have made unnecessarily complicated: some families have a mom and a dad, some have two moms or two dads, and some have one parent or grandparents or guardians. All of them can be filled with love.

And all of them deserve to see themselves in stories.