And Tango Makes Three
Parnell and Richardson's Kids Book on Gay Parenting
This delightful story, based on a real-life male penguin couple at the New York City zoo who raise a baby together, teaches kids that there are all kinds of families.
Two penguins who are "a little bit different"
And Tango Makes Three (2005), written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, tells the story of Silo and Roy, two male penguins at the New York City zoo who are "a little bit different." All of the boy penguins like girl penguins, but Roy and Silo like each other. They do everything together. When they see all the other penguin couples sitting on eggs and waiting for them to hatch, they want to do the same. Since they can't make an egg, they find an egg-sized rock and sit on that. They wait and wait but nothing happens. Finally, a perceptive zookeeper notices what they are trying to do. When another penguin couple lays two fertile eggs, the zookeeper decides to give one egg to Silo and Roy so they can try to start a family.
A Happy Family
Roy and Silo take turns sitting on the egg, just like all the other couples, keeping it warm until it hatches. When baby penguin finally arrives the zookeeper names their daughter Tango, “because it takes to to make a Tango.” The two dads teach Tango to eat, to swim and to play. The dads are kind, attentive and caring towards their new baby. At night, the three penguins cuddle up in their nest and, “like all the other penguins in the penguin house, and all the other animals in the zoo, and all the families in the big city around them, they went to sleep.”
Celebrating Family Diversity
And Tango Makes Three is a celebration of family in all its forms. Written for Preschool to Grade 3, the book can be used as an introduction to talking to children about different types of families. The beginning of the book talks about all the different families in the zoo, like red panda bear families, monkey families, and toad families. While it can be read as an 'issue' book, readers will return to Tango again and again because of the charming story and wonderful illustrations.
Delightful artwork
The playful but realistic water colour illustrations by Henry Cole capture zoo life and the very lovable penguins perfectly. Cole successfully resists the urge to make caricatures of the animals, instead creating expressive and touching illustrations that complement the story's heart-warming message.
Award winner
And Tango Makes Three was published by Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing in 2005 and was named by the American Library Association as one of 2006's Notable Children's Books. It also won the ASPCA's Hengry Bergh Award and the Gustavus Myer Outstanding Book Award. Tango was also nominated for the 2006 Lambda Literary Award.
Publisher's teaching guide
The Simon and Schuster website has a helpful on-line teaching guide for anyone interested in using And Tango Makes Three as a teaching resource with their kids. The guide includes discussion questions, ideas for book-related activities and links to further resources about family diversity.
