And Tango Makes Three

And Tango Makes Three is a 2005 children's book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole. The book is based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo who for a time formed a couple. The book follows part of this time in the penguin's lives. This book teaches children that it's okay to be in or know someone who has an alternative family, not the "traditional" family.

The pair were observed trying to hatch a rock that resembled an egg. When zookeepers realized that Roy and Silo were both male, it occurred to them to give them the second egg of a mixed-sex penguin couple, a couple which had previously been unable to successfully hatch two eggs at once. Roy and Silo hatched and raised the healthy young chick, a female named "Tango" by keepers, together as a family.

The penguins in the book are Chinstrap Penguins.

Awards & nominations
And Tango Makes Three has received several national book awards. In 2006 it was named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book. It received the APCSA's Henry Bergh Award and the Gustavus Myer Outstanding Book Award. It was named a Nick Jr. Family Magazine Best Book of the Year, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Cooperative Children's Book Council Choice, and a CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book.Tango was also a finalist for the 2006 Lambda Literary Award.

Controversy
The book has generated controversy among parents in some parts of the United States.


 * In Shiloh, Illinois, some parents of students at Shiloh Elementary School requested in November 2006 that the book be placed in a restricted section of the library and for the school to consider that students have parental permission prior to checking the book out. The school superintendent resolved instead to keep the book available to all students.


 * In Missouri, parents had the book moved to the school library's non-fiction section.


 * In Charlotte, North Carolina, the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Peter Gorman, ordered the book removed from school libraries on December 20, 2006. Gorman agreed to let a committee review the decision due to concerns that the policy on banning books was not followed.


 * The American Library Association named And Tango Makes Three the most challenged book of 2006.

Editions

 * And Tango Makes Three, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, April 26 2005 ISBN 0-689-87845-1