Oh, for heaven's sake...
Nov. 17th, 2006 09:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charliesmumThis article was on my Comcast home page today. By JIM SUHR, Associated Press Writer
SHILOH, Ill. - A picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents who worry about the book's availability to children _ and the reluctance of school administrators to restrict access to it.
The concerns are the latest involving "And Tango Makes Three," the illustrated children's book based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo that adopted a fertilized egg and raised the chick as their own.
Complaining about the book's homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book _ available to be checked out of the school's library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis _ tackles topics their children aren't ready to handle.
Their request: Move the book to the library's regular shelves and restrict it to a section for mature issues, perhaps even requiring parental permission before a child can check it out.
For now, "And Tango Makes Three" will stay put, said school district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw, though a panel she appointed suggested the book be moved and require parental permission to be checked out. The district's attorney said moving it might be construed as censorship.
Filyaw considers the book "adorable" and age appropriate, written for children ages 4 to 8.
"My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," she said. "It means you represent different families in a society _ different religions, different beliefs."
Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."
"That's when I ended the story," she said.
Del Pinto said her daughter's teacher told her she was unfamiliar with the book, and the school's librarian directed the mother to Filyaw.
"I wasn't armed with pitchforks or anything. I innocently was seeking answers," Del Pinto said, agreeing with Filyaw's belief that pulling the book from the shelves could constitute censorship.
The book has created similar flaps elsewhere. Earlier this year, two parents voiced concerns about the book with librarians at the Rolling Hills' Consolidated Library's branch in the northwest Missouri town of Savannah.
Barbara Read, Rolling Hills' director, has said she consulted with staff members at the Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City zoos and the University of Oklahoma's zoology department, who told her adoptions aren't unusual in the world of penguins.
She said the book was then moved to the nonfiction section because it was based on actual events. In that section, she said, there was less of a chance that the book would "blindside" someone.
This is the part that annoyed me the most: Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."
"That's when I ended the story," she said. Because love is bad? love=sex? Come on. They're penguins. God forbid you use this as an opportunity to explore the idea that there are all kinds of people in the world.
SHILOH, Ill. - A picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents who worry about the book's availability to children _ and the reluctance of school administrators to restrict access to it.
The concerns are the latest involving "And Tango Makes Three," the illustrated children's book based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo that adopted a fertilized egg and raised the chick as their own.
Complaining about the book's homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book _ available to be checked out of the school's library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis _ tackles topics their children aren't ready to handle.
Their request: Move the book to the library's regular shelves and restrict it to a section for mature issues, perhaps even requiring parental permission before a child can check it out.
For now, "And Tango Makes Three" will stay put, said school district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw, though a panel she appointed suggested the book be moved and require parental permission to be checked out. The district's attorney said moving it might be construed as censorship.
Filyaw considers the book "adorable" and age appropriate, written for children ages 4 to 8.
"My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," she said. "It means you represent different families in a society _ different religions, different beliefs."
Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."
"That's when I ended the story," she said.
Del Pinto said her daughter's teacher told her she was unfamiliar with the book, and the school's librarian directed the mother to Filyaw.
"I wasn't armed with pitchforks or anything. I innocently was seeking answers," Del Pinto said, agreeing with Filyaw's belief that pulling the book from the shelves could constitute censorship.
The book has created similar flaps elsewhere. Earlier this year, two parents voiced concerns about the book with librarians at the Rolling Hills' Consolidated Library's branch in the northwest Missouri town of Savannah.
Barbara Read, Rolling Hills' director, has said she consulted with staff members at the Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City zoos and the University of Oklahoma's zoology department, who told her adoptions aren't unusual in the world of penguins.
She said the book was then moved to the nonfiction section because it was based on actual events. In that section, she said, there was less of a chance that the book would "blindside" someone.
This is the part that annoyed me the most: Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."
"That's when I ended the story," she said. Because love is bad? love=sex? Come on. They're penguins. God forbid you use this as an opportunity to explore the idea that there are all kinds of people in the world.
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no subject
on 2006-11-17 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-11-17 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-11-17 03:36 pm (UTC)That would never have stopped me when I was a kid. I would just read it in the library, on the grounds that anything that grown-ups hated that much MUST be good.
And heaven forbid that the bigot's small daughter learn from penguins that there are all kinds of families besides nuclear ones, or that two penguins can, without benefit of clergy, adopt and raise a chick in a loving way. It would be dreadful if the child grew up to think of love as a good and beneficial thing, at least for penguins.
no subject
on 2006-11-17 03:53 pm (UTC)And why do people persist in the beleif that all children are precious little innocent angels from heaven?
no subject
on 2006-11-17 04:08 pm (UTC)Jeez, why don't they get it over with and outright ban the book? Just add it to the list of books that have already been banned because adults feel uncomfy about their widdle kiddlins reading them.
no subject
on 2006-11-17 04:09 pm (UTC)Leaving her daughter puzzled, curious, and likely to grow up to be a penguin. :)
That put this ad right into my head.
on 2006-11-17 06:53 pm (UTC)Re: That put this ad right into my head.
on 2006-11-17 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-11-17 04:41 pm (UTC)honestly, people.
it's just... stupid.
no subject
on 2006-11-17 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-11-18 01:18 am (UTC)".....and when that penguin boy starts to feel that heat,
what happens next? He's all smooth underneath.
As sure as there's a star that shines above,
there's got to be a way for him to show his love."
You may be able to view a partial performance of the song here:
http://www.wahasurfshop.com/songs/Penguin.avi
Cheers!
no subject
on 2006-11-18 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-11-18 09:45 am (UTC)*are the penguins actually gay, or slightly gender confused due to the lack of females in their enclousre?
*don't most women bitch and moan about raising kids and being pregnant and want the males to brunt the responsibility. (come on we have all thought that one!)
*the book is written for 4-8year olds. i think their understanding of gay rights is a little under developed and they will just read two penguins hatching an egg. NO???
*Is whats her name zenophobic?? or been hit on by a women recently and freeked out or terrified the daughter will turn out like odd great aunty elsbeth who lived with her "friend" is she reads this book.
for heavens sake my son plays with barbie dolls....and i haven't sent burning effergies to the creators for blatently forcing dolls on all the communities.
get a grip. it is a book. it is a penguin. it is nature. it is really kind of cute.