Gay penguin book
returning to school libraries

A children's book about a couple of adult male penguins who raise a child will go back on the shelves of the libraries of four Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, N.C., elementary schools until a panel decides the fate of the briefly banned title next month.

And Tango Makes Three was banned by superintendent Peter Gorman on November 30. The picture book, based on a true story from New York's Central Park Zoo, is about two male penguins who pair up and hatch an adopted egg.

Gorman told the Charlotte Observer that he "screwed up" by yanking the book. District policy calls for challenged books to remain on the shelves until a committee rules on the complaint. He blamed the incident on a miscommunication about school policy.

After the Observer questioned the ban on Tuesday, Gorman had his staff brief him on school district policy for handling such challenges. The books will be returned to Eastover, Hickory Grove, Mallard Creek, and Myers Park elementary schools on Thursday, Gorman told the paper.

Gorman said he asked his staff to look into the same-sex penguin love story after a couple of parents asked him about it and county commissioner Bill James e-mailed him an article about an Illinois challenge to the book. The book has been challenged in schools or public libraries in seven other states, but all have kept the book, according to the American Library Association. (The Advocate)