The picture book I read to my nephew got me thinking about why people hate it

My little nephew wanted me to read him "And Tango Makes Three" last Saturday, and I hadn't picked it up since I was a kid myself. I got about halfway through when my sister-in-law's friend walked in and made a weird comment about how it's "not appropriate" for a 5 year old. That stuck with me all evening, honestly. I kept thinking about how the book is just about two penguins who build a nest together and raise a baby chick, but people act like it's some kind of radical political statement. It hit me that the people who want this banned aren't even mad about the story itself, they're mad that kids might understand that families come in different shapes before they learn to be scared of that. I got curious and looked up how many times this book has been challenged since it came out, and it's over 50 times just in the last decade. Has anyone else had a moment where a banned kids book just seemed so innocent and sweet that you couldn't believe the outrage?

2 comments

2 Comments

brian_coleman4d ago

Man that exact thing happened to me with "The Family Book" by Todd Parr. It's literally just colorful illustrations of different families and the message is basically "some families have two dads, some have one mom, and all of them are fine." My cousin's husband got all red in the face about it and I sat there thinking, this is the most harmless thing I've ever read to a kid. You really nailed it about people not wanting kids to learn acceptance before they learn prejudice, that's the whole fight right there.

stellas564d ago

Yeah that "learn acceptance before prejudice" bit is spot on. My friend's kid got that book in school and some parents went nuts.