Book Review of And Tango Makes Three

PD Activity

Write a book review

Topic

Censorship

Detailed description of activity undertaken

I wrote a book review about the children’s book, and Tango makes three (ATMT). I first stumbled upon this book in an article that was shared by my Library’s blog for Banned Book Week, and was struck by the sweet story of two male penguins who longed for and eventually adopted a baby penguin. Most striking of all is the fact this story is based upon events that occurred at a zoo in New York (Richardson, Parnell, & Cole, 2005). The book may not be the most recent release, but it continues to be controversial and I believed it deserved another review.

What did you learn?

I found censorship to be a fascinating subject and one that often results in heated argument for and against. There were many cases about libraries and ATMT in relation to patron challenges (Chinn, 2007), relocation to restricted areas or areas less frequented by children (Goldberg, 2006; "Tango Ruffles Feathers in Virginia," 2008), and removal (Hickey, 2014; Scales, 2007). I learnt that censorship is a complex concept and there is a spectrum of what could be considered appropriate or inappropriate, with each person having different thresholds. Most vexing of all is that there is no right or wrong; while I find it very concerning that some would see ATMT banned, I cannot state that they are wrong. Instead, as a librarian, I can choose to prevent a minority opinion from determining whether others can read a book.

How was the activity relevant to your professional practice as a librarian for children or young adults?

Magnuson (2011) outlines five main motives behind challenges toward ATMT: third-person effect; parental rights; scarcity; First Amendment, or ‘free speech’; and diversity. Magnuson advised third-person effect, where people are concerned about any children reading the book, and parental rights, where people believe parents should chose if a book is suitable, were most common. Interestingly, Magnusson discovered that people arguing for parental rights were divided – some argued against libraries keeping copies of ATMT, while others argued for libraries to keep ATMT. This is relevant to a children’s librarian because they must be able to defend their decision to keep a book against those who will inevitably challenge something in the collection. I believe children’s librarians must be firm and fair in their approach to censorship, using ALIA’s (2007) Statement on free access to information as a guide to help them remain impartial. In addition, writing book reviews about books like ATMT will encourage robust discussions about censorship and may elicit change.

Were any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill those gaps?

I had never written a book review before and found it to be an interesting and challenging task. It was difficult to manage the discussion as I wanted to include the topic of the book as well as make an assessment of the social issues tackled while remaining impartial. I overcame these gaps by reading other book reviews to get a feel for the writing style, format, and themes.

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2007). Statement on free access to information. Retrieved September 20, 2014, from https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/statement-free-access-information

Chinn, J. (2007). In Your Library: Do You Have Something to Offend Everybody? Medium, 32(1), 22-23.

Goldberg, B. (2006). Librarian: Media Fictionalized Penguin Tango Flap. American Libraries, 37(4), 15-15.

Hickey, S. (2014, July 12). Singapore libraries to destroy copies of gay penguin book. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/12/singapore-libraries-pull-gay-penguin-book

Magnuson, M. L. (2011). Perceptions of Self and the "Other": An Analysis of Challenges to And Tango Makes Three. School Library Media Research, 14, 4-4.

Richardson, J., Parnell, P., & Cole, H. (2005). And Tango makes three. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Scales, P. (2007). It Takes Three to Tango (Vol. 53, pp. 24-24): Media Source, Inc.

Tango Ruffles Feathers in Virginia. (2008). American Libraries, 39(4), 23-24.