Gay Penguins a Menace to Society

You can’t make this stuff up…

Persecution of the Penguin Book
by Claire Kirch, PW Daily — 11/21/2006

Movies about penguins might be box-office gold (March of the Penguins; Happy Feet), but controversy has been dogging a picture book about penguins, published in June 2005 by Simon & Schuster.

And Tango Makes Three, written by professor of psychiatry Justin Richardson and playwright Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole, is the story of two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo, who hatch and raise a penguin chick. The tale is based on an actual event that occurred at that zoo in 1998.

Although Tango has received a string of awards and honors, including an ASPCA Henry Bergh Book Award, and was an ALA Notable, parents in Shiloh, Ill., 20 miles east of St. Louis, recently complained to the school district that the book promotes “the homosexual lifestyle” and is easily accessible to children in the elementary school library. These parents are asking that Tango either be shelved in a restricted area or that children wanting to check out the book obtain parental permission…

[read the entire article here]

Stupid, stupid, stupid…

PS: Considering recent[ish] developments, I wonder if Diamond would accept And Tango Makes Three for distribution?

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.