Banned Book of the Day: And Tango Makes Three

As we covered yesterday in our post on Harry Potter, children's books are a big target for banning.  Adults worry about the influence books will have on their children and the way they see the world.  Today we're looking at another kid's book - And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

Looking at the cover, it's hard to see why this book - based on a true story of a family of penguins in the Central Park Zoo - should cause such a fuss.  Why is this book the fourth most-banned of the last decade?

The answer?  Silo and Roy, the two penguins who fall in love and adopt a baby over the course of the story, are both male penguins.  Once their story hit the shelves, it was targeted for "promoting a homosexual lifestyle," and schools warred over whether or not it should be included in library collections.  While some parents felt the book didn't contain information that was necessary or appropriate for school children, others felt this book was a great way to introduce their kids to different types of families and loving home environments - and gay parents found it was a story that their kids could relate to.

If you haven't read And Tango Makes Three, you can check out a reading of the book in the video above.  What do you think?