Controversial Book: "And The Tango Makes Three"

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Book Title:

And The Tango Makes Three

Author:

Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Illustrator:

Henry Cole

Type of Book:

Picture Book

Age Level:

4-8

My Star Rating:

***

Summary

·      This book focuses on the idea of family, and how to create one. But when two male penguins fall in live at the zoo, they learn that they cannot naturally start a family on their own.

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My Thoughts

·      This book is a great warming story with a lot of good lessons to teach about life. It is obviously controversial because of the homosexuality involved, but it shows that the love of a family is not restricted, and that gay parents can love and succeed in the same ways of that of heterosexual parents. Now, I, being pretty conservative myself, often find myself in communities who would find this book threatening to young minds. But I disagree. I think it is very important that kids be exposed to these topics. Mainly because these controversial topics exist in real life, and kids will have to deal with them eventually. I think the biggest issue with teaching this type of book is going to be the conservative parents causing a fuss. But I encourage teachers to be courageous.

How to Use in the Classroom

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·      This book could help start off a discussion about how babies are made, it could open up the topic of “what is homosexuality?” and it could help open up the idea of adoption. All of these topics would be very beneficial to teach in class, if age appropriate (in my opinion). Some kids may even come from a family of two gay parents, and this could be a book to help the rest of the class understand and better accept the idea. If nothing else, this book also could help in showing the deep love of a family… and how everyone is capable of being part of one. 

 More Resources:

• For more information about this book, click here.