TANGO is TEN!

It's the Tenth Anniversary Edition of one of my favorite picture books of all time, AND TANGO MAKES THREE.

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, Illustrated by Henry Cole

The true – and heartwarming – story of two boy penguins, Roy and Silo, who fall in love with each other. They see what all the other boy-girl penguin pairs are doing (sitting on and hatching eggs) and so Roy and Silo try to hatch a rock that looks a bit like an egg.

They sit and sit and sit, but nothing happens. After all, it's a rock.

But when there is an extra penguin egg that has no one to care for it, the zookeeper gives the egg to Roy and Silo. And they know just what to do.

They sit and sit and sit, and this time, something happens.

They become parents.

And their child, their Tango, is the first penguin in the New York City Central Park Zoo to have two daddies.

It's a book that's been vilified (at the top of the banned books list, destroyed in Singapore.)

It's a book that's been championed (so many people standing up for the book, hundreds of parents staging a read-in at the Singapore National Library.)

It's a book with a special place in my heart, as it helped my husband and I talk to the mom-dad families at our daughter's preschool and kindergarten about our two dad family.

And it's a book that's extra sweet now, as the afterword shares that the co-authors, Peter and Justin, are now parents themselves. And their daughter, like Tango, has two dads.


Additional news about And Tango Makes Three... Simon & Schuster are also publishing a board book edition, an audio digital download (read by Neil Patrick Harris), a book and CD package, and they are adding the audio track to the existing e-book!

Add your thoughts on AND TANGO MAKES THREE in comments!

Christian, The Hugging Lion

By Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Amy June Bates

From the duo that brought us the wonderful "And Tango Makes Three" comes another true story, about a two-guy couple, Ace and John, who rescue a baby lion, Christian, from a fancy department store and raise him in their apartment.

And the three of them become a family.

"Most of all, Christian loved being with Ace and John. The three of them had become the most unusual family in all of London."

But of course, Christian is a lion, who grows... and grows... and grows!

Pretty soon they realize that Christian should go back to the wild. And they take him there. And he roars for the first time!

Back in London, Ace and John miss Christian's hugs.

They fly back to Kenya to try to find Christian, and they do.

And when the now wild lion, all grown up and with cubs of his own sees them, what does he do?

(detail of one of the beautiful interior pages)

He hugs them!

It's a heartwarming story with a great message that love is what makes a family. There's nothing overt about Ace and John being in love, but then again there's nothing overt about Madge and Bernie Wubbington being in love in the Chowder books. Chowder is a book about a dog and his loving humans, just like Christian, The Hugging Lion is about this lion and his loving humans. The fact that they're clearly a couple and both men doesn't change the truth that the love is the very same thing.

This is truly a picture book that I wish had been read to me when I was a little kid.

Have I convinced you to get this book and read it to a child you love yet? (And don't forget your own inner child!) Well, this should clinch it. Watch this actual video footage of Ace, John and Christian, the Hugging Lion:



Namaste,
Lee

The ALA releases the Top Ten most frequently challenged books of 2010: Let's Make It A Reading Challenge!

Every year about this time the American Library Association comes out with their list of the top 10 most challenged books in America. Books that are seen by some as too dangerous to be in library collections. Books that some people not only want to make sure their own children don't read but these people want to make sure no one else's child gets to read them, either.

Often, these are the books that challenge stereotypes. That tell it like it is. That change (and save) lives. Sometimes they're just a good story that contains something controversial, and sometimes they're, well to some people, challenging.

In 2010, once again the #1 most challenged book in America was one of my favorite picture books of all time, "And Tango Makes Three."

But... They're so cute!

What's "dangerous" about this book? By telling the sweet (and true) story of two male penguins who become a couple and then loving parents, "And Tango Makes Three" directly challenges the stereotype that gay men can't find love - that we can't be parents, and if we do somehow become parents, we can't be good parents. Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, with Henry Cole's heart-warming illustrations, have created a story where it's so clear that LOVE is what makes a family - and with the parallel of penguins - readers see that gay love is that same kind of love.

There are other wonderful books on this list of the top ten most challenged books: "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins, a searing novel in verse about a good teen girl's descent into drug addition. Ellen has gotten so much flack about her books in which teens make bad decisions with sometimes horrible consequences - they're riveting and wrenching and so important - because no one who reads "Crank" is going to think, "wow, I gotta try that stuff. It sounds great." Because it doesn't.

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, a wonderful, funny, and not-afraid-to-look-at-the-ugly-stuff novel that I talk about in my Smashing Stereotypes workshops all the time as an example of how writers can deal with stereotypes not by ignoring them but by tackling them head-on.

There are popular books like "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins and "Twilight," by Stephenie Meyer.

There are queer books, like "And Tango Makes Three" and "Revolutionary Voices.

And even a few books I haven't heard of till now. (Sonya Sones! Your books are awesome, but I haven't read this one... yet.)

So I want to put out a CHALLENGE to you:

Let's read them.

Let's read all ten of these books as our protest to the ridiculous notion that books of literary merit should be pulled from library collections to avoid offending certain people.

Here are the ten titles with the reasons given for challenging each:

Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2010

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit

4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit

5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

6. Lush, by Natasha Friend
Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

7. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint

9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
Reasons: homosexuality and sexually explicit

10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence

Because a book that is challenging shouldn't be challenged - it should be read and discussed.

Leave your update in comments to share how you're doing with the challenge - and I will as well!

Namaste,
Lee

And Tango Makes Three

by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole

I love this book.

Based on the incredibly sweet and true story of a gay male penguin couple (Roy and Silo) at the New York City Central Park Zoo, who bond and build a nest of stones - and try to hatch a pebble. When there's an extra egg that needs a family, the zookeeper gives it to Roy and Silo, and they end up raising the little girl penguin that hatches, Tango.

There are many animal families in the Central Park Zoo, but Tango is the first one to have two Daddies.

"And Tango Makes Three" was the MOST challenged book in the United States of America for the last two years! (A "challenge" is when a parent or other adult protests the inclusion of a book in a library's collection.) And if things like that make you mad as hell, you should check out AS IF: Young Adult Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom whose blog includes some great news and discussions regarding the continuing challenges facing many books today...

As a gay Daddy, I have experienced many times over how "And Tango Makes Three" is a fantastic tool for talking to people about MY family. It's a great starting point for discussing MY daughter having two Daddies, and about how at the end of the day, being a good parent is not about gender. It is about devotion, selflessness, and love.



I love this book. I love reading it to my child. And to have had it read to me when I was a child would have been so wonderful...

Thank you, Justin, Peter, and Henry!

Truly, this book makes me so happy.