Penguins Threaten Traditional Family Values

And Tango Makes Three, the children’s book based on a true story about two male penguins who adopt an abandoned egg, tops the American Library Association’s list of “10 Most Challenged Books of 2006,” “for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group.” A challenge, according to the ALA, is “a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.” Other books on the list include Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved, based on “sexual content and offensive language.”

As I’ve said before, it seems the right has felt particularly sensitive about penguins ever since they claimed March of the Penguins as an example of “traditional family values.”

Personally, I think it’s time for a March of the Penguins on Washington.

What’s your favorite book from the ALA list, this year or in the past?

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5 Responses to “Penguins Threaten Traditional Family Values”

1. 
   Mombian » Blog Archive » Horn Book Magazine on Books and Gender
   on Aug 31st, 2007
   @ 12:48 pm: 

   [...] Several of the feature articles are only available in print (including “Of Sissies, Invalids, and the Mysterious Boy in the Window,” and “The Genre of Gender: The Emerging Canon of Transgender-Inclusive YA Literature”), but even my smallish local library carries the journal, so it shouldn’t be hard to find. There are also a couple of Web extras, including several on censorship—appropriate given the upcoming Banned Books Week with And Tango Makes Three at the top of the list. [...]

2. 
   Mrs. Micah
   on Aug 31st, 2007
   @ 4:24 pm: 

   But…but…it’s clearly about a family! Clearly not anti-family.

   Ugh. I was brought up to think the other way, but got over it.

   I’m a big fan of this. Especially since it’s based on a true story, yes? And I think it’s important that kids learn about families different from theirs. My kids are going to read about single parents, divorced parents, families by adoption (in various categories), multi-racial families, same-sex parents, everything!

   -MM

3. 
   Adam R
   on Sep 3rd, 2007
   @ 2:57 pm: 

   Hello! Found this on my Google blog alert for ‘penguin’. My response to all this from my blog entry from January:

   Despite what those crazy school officials think, I think Tango opens up the discussion of how families can be different and non-traditional. The tale of Tango sends a message that children can be raised properly in non-traditional homes. Of course it does depend on the specific situation, but the general consensus should be that a mother/father/child relationship does not have to be the end-all solution to giving proper love to a child. Just remember My Two Dads & Three Men and a Baby. If you’ve jumped to the conclusion that this book actually promotes homosexuality, you’ve either missed the point or haven’t even read the book. Two flippers up, if I had them.

4. 
   Erin
   on Sep 4th, 2007
   @ 4:06 pm: 

   Mombian asks: What’s your favorite book from the ALA list, this year or in the past? Detour for Emmy (Marilyn Reynolds, published by Morning Glory Press) fell off the list this year (it was #6 for 2005). It was my favorite simply because my mom is the publisher. Marilyn has a new book coming out about open adoption, and the adopting parents are two men.

   Mom loves the Banned Books publicity — it sure helps sell her books!

5. 
   Mombian » Blog Archive » Is that Penguin Insured?
   on Nov 28th, 2007
   @ 2:59 pm: 

   [...] of course begs the question of whether the pet insurance would cover gay penguins. Bookmark to: Posted on November 28th, 2007 at 2:59 pm [...]