Banned Books Week - Greatest Hits - Day 1
September 24-October 1 is Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of the fight against literary censorship. Since people who challenge books are really not very original, there aren't enough books on this year's top ten list for me to write about a different book every day. After seven years, I've finally exhausted the yearly top ten lists. So, this year, we're doing something just slightly different. This is my Seven Year Anniversary Greatest Hits.
Normally, when I do these posts, I tell people not to think of them as recommendations. While I appreciate the philosophy behind people who want to read a challenged book just to stick it to the person challenging it, I personally prefer to uphold literary freedom so that I can choose to read what I want and not what someone wants me to read. Let's be honest--not all the books that are challenged are all that interesting. However, this year every book I talk about is going to be Kaitlyn Endorsed. This is an actual recommendation list, people. For the next week, I'm going to highlight books off the past seven years of top ten lists that I've already talked about, but whole-heartedly love and think you should read as well. They'll be books for all ages, although obviously my interests skew towards picture books, middle grade fiction, and young adult fiction.
Anyway, let's get started with the number one most challenged book in America for 2010, which just happens to be dear to my heart.
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
And Tango Makes Three is a fictionalized account of the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who are "a little bit different." Roy and Silo like to play and cuddle the way the other penguins couples do, so when they start making nests for eggs, Roy and Silo try to do that too. Unfortunately, although they take careful turns sitting on their nest, their efforts do not produce the hatched eggs of baby penguins that the other couples have. A watchful zookeeper gives them a hand, supplying them with an extra egg that another penguin family cannot care for. Roy and Silo take great care in nurturing their egg, which eventually hatches into a delightful penguin daughter, Tango.
Although it was named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book and received the ASPCA's Henry Bergh Award and the Gustavus Myer Outstanding Book Award along with several other honors, And Tango Makes Three is currently the most challenged book in America. Challengers have accused it of being anti-ethnic, sexist, promoting of homosexuality, anti-family, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group. Since its publication in 2005, And Tango Makes Three has been on the ALA's Top Ten Most Challenged Books list every year and has been the number one most challenged book on that list every year, save for 2009, when it was number two.
Reasons You Should Read This Book: It's a picture book! It's short and cute and, unlike many picture books written seemingly quickly to detail "current topics," it's a well-told and well-illustrated story. I dare you not to get a tear in your eye when Roy and Silo despondently realize that all the other penguins' eggs have hatched but their "egg" has not and will not. Although Roy and Silo are both boy penguins, it's not an "issue" book and doesn't force the idea of homosexuality on the reader in a clunky manner, merely tells a sweet story about an unconventional family.
For more information about Banned Books Week, check out the ALA's BBW website or BannedBooksWeek.org.
Normally, when I do these posts, I tell people not to think of them as recommendations. While I appreciate the philosophy behind people who want to read a challenged book just to stick it to the person challenging it, I personally prefer to uphold literary freedom so that I can choose to read what I want and not what someone wants me to read. Let's be honest--not all the books that are challenged are all that interesting. However, this year every book I talk about is going to be Kaitlyn Endorsed. This is an actual recommendation list, people. For the next week, I'm going to highlight books off the past seven years of top ten lists that I've already talked about, but whole-heartedly love and think you should read as well. They'll be books for all ages, although obviously my interests skew towards picture books, middle grade fiction, and young adult fiction.
Anyway, let's get started with the number one most challenged book in America for 2010, which just happens to be dear to my heart.
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
And Tango Makes Three is a fictionalized account of the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who are "a little bit different." Roy and Silo like to play and cuddle the way the other penguins couples do, so when they start making nests for eggs, Roy and Silo try to do that too. Unfortunately, although they take careful turns sitting on their nest, their efforts do not produce the hatched eggs of baby penguins that the other couples have. A watchful zookeeper gives them a hand, supplying them with an extra egg that another penguin family cannot care for. Roy and Silo take great care in nurturing their egg, which eventually hatches into a delightful penguin daughter, Tango.
Although it was named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book and received the ASPCA's Henry Bergh Award and the Gustavus Myer Outstanding Book Award along with several other honors, And Tango Makes Three is currently the most challenged book in America. Challengers have accused it of being anti-ethnic, sexist, promoting of homosexuality, anti-family, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group. Since its publication in 2005, And Tango Makes Three has been on the ALA's Top Ten Most Challenged Books list every year and has been the number one most challenged book on that list every year, save for 2009, when it was number two.
Reasons You Should Read This Book: It's a picture book! It's short and cute and, unlike many picture books written seemingly quickly to detail "current topics," it's a well-told and well-illustrated story. I dare you not to get a tear in your eye when Roy and Silo despondently realize that all the other penguins' eggs have hatched but their "egg" has not and will not. Although Roy and Silo are both boy penguins, it's not an "issue" book and doesn't force the idea of homosexuality on the reader in a clunky manner, merely tells a sweet story about an unconventional family.
For more information about Banned Books Week, check out the ALA's BBW website or BannedBooksWeek.org.