At New York City's Central Park Zoo, two male penguins fall in love and start a family by taking turns sitting on an abandoned egg until it hatches. - (Baker & Taylor)
When male penguins Silo and Roy attempt to hatch an egg-shaped rock and find no success in their efforts, the zookeepers decide to place a fertilized penguin egg in their cage and end up with little baby Tango, in an amusing tale based on a true story from the Central Park Zoo. - (Baker & Taylor)
<b><i>And Tango Makes Three</i> is the bestselling, heartwarming true story of two penguins who create a nontraditional family.</b><br><br>At the penguin house at the Central Park Zoo, two penguins named Roy and Silo were a little bit different from the others. But their desire for a family was the same. And with the help of a kindly zookeeper, Roy and Silo get the chance to welcome a baby penguin of their very own.<br> <br>Selected as an ALA Notable Children’s Book Nominee and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, “this joyful story about the meaning of family is a must for any library” (<i>School Library Journal</i>, starred review). - (Simon and Schuster)
And Tango Makes Three is the bestselling, heartwarming true story of two penguins who create a nontraditional family.
At the penguin house at the Central Park Zoo, two penguins named Roy and Silo were a little bit different from the others. But their desire for a family was the same. And with the help of a kindly zookeeper, Roy and Silo get the chance to welcome a baby penguin of their very own.
Selected as an ALA Notable Children's Book Nominee and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, 'this joyful story about the meaning of family is a must for any library' (School Library Journal, starred review). - (Simon and Schuster)
Justin Richardson, MD, is the coauthor, with Peter Parnell, of the award-winning picture book And Tango Makes Three. Dr. Richardson is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia and Cornell and the coauthor of Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They’d Ask). Dr. Richardson and his advice have been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post, on the Today show and NPR’s Morning Edition, and in numerous magazines. Dr. Richardson lectures to parents and teachers on parenting and the sexual development of children.
Peter Parnell is the coauthor, with Justin Richardson, of And Tango Makes Three. He is a playwright whose plays have been produced at the Public Theater and Playwrights Horizons in New York City, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the Seattle Repertory Company, among others. His play QED was produced on Broadway. He has written extensively for television as a producer for both The West Wing and The Guardian; he has also written episodes of Maurice Sendak’s series Little Bear. He lives in New York City.
Henry Cole has written and illustrated more than 150 books for children, including Spot, the Cat; And Tango Makes Three; Oink?; and Little Bo in France. He is also the illustrator of With a Little Help from My Friends by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. A former elementary school teacher, he now writes and paints full time. - (Simon and Schuster)
And Tango Makes Three
By Justin Richardson Peter ParnellSimon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Copyright © 2005 Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-0-689-87845-9
Chapter One
And in the penguin house there are penguin families.
Every year at the very same time, the girl penguins start noticing the boy penguins. And the boy penguins start noticing the girls. When the right girl and the right boy find each other, they become a couple.
Two penguins in the penguin house were a little bit different. One was named Roy, and the other was named Silo. Roy and Silo were both boys. But they did everything together.
They bowed to each other.
And walked together.
They sang to each other.
And swam together.
Wherever Roy went, Silo went too.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from And Tango Makes Threeby Justin Richardson Peter Parnell Copyright ©2005 by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Booklist Reviews
/*Starred Review*/ PreS-Gr. 2. Roy and Silo were "a little bit different" from the other male penguins: instead of noticing females, they noticed each other. Thus penguin chick Tango, hatched from a fertilized egg given to the pining, bewildered pair, came to be "the only penguin in the Central Park Zoo with two daddies." As told by Richardson and Parnell (a psychiatrist and playwright), this true story remains firmly within the bounds of the zoo's polar environment, as do Cole's expressive but still realistic watercolors (a far cry from his effete caricatures in Harvey Fierstein's The Sissy Duckling, 2002). Emphasizing the penguins' naturally ridiculous physiques while gently acknowledging their situation, Cole's pictures complement the perfectly cadenced text--showing, for example, the bewildered pair craning their necks toward a nest that was "nice, but a little empty." Indeed, intrusions from the zookeeper, who remarks that the nuzzling males "must be in love," strike the narrative's only false note. Further facts about the episode conclude, but it's naive to expect this will be read only as a zoo anecdote. However, those who share this with children will find themselves returning to it again and again--not for the entree it might offer to matters of human sexuality, but for the two irresistible birds at its center and for the celebration of patient, loving fathers who "knew just what to do." ((Reviewed May 15, 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
Tango has two daddies in this heartwarming tale, inspired by actual events in New York's Central Park Zoo. Two male penguins, Roy and Silo, "did everything together. They bowed to each other.... They sang to each other. And swam together. Wherever Roy went, Silo went too.... Their keeper... thought to himself, `They must be in love.' " Cole's (The Sissy Duckling) endearing watercolors follow the twosome as they frolic affectionately in several vignettes and then try tirelessly to start a family-first they build a stone nest and then they comically attempt to hatch a rock. Their expressive eyes capture a range of moods within uncluttered, pastel-hued scenes dominated by pale blue. When the keeper discovers an egg that needs tending, he gives it to Roy and Silo, who hatch and raise the female. The keeper says, "We'll call her Tango,... because it takes two to make a Tango." Older readers will most appreciate the humor inherent in her name plus the larger theme of tolerance at work in this touching tale. Richardson and Parnell, making their children's book debut, ease into the theme from the start, mentioning that "families of all kinds" visit the zoo. This tender story can also serve as a gentle jumping-off point for discussions about same-sex partnerships in human society. Ages 4-8. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal Reviews
PreS-Gr 3-This tale based on a true story about a charming penguin family living in New York City's Central Park Zoo will capture the hearts of penguin lovers everywhere. Roy and Silo, two male penguins, are "a little bit different." They cuddle and share a nest like the other penguin couples, and when all the others start hatching eggs, they want to be parents, too. Determined and hopeful, they bring an egg-shaped rock back to their nest and proceed to start caring for it. They have little luck, until a watchful zookeeper decides they deserve a chance at having their own family and gives them an egg in need of nurturing. The dedicated and enthusiastic fathers do a great job of hatching their funny and adorable daughter, and the three can still be seen at the zoo today. Done in soft watercolors, the illustrations set the tone for this uplifting story, and readers will find it hard to resist the penguins' comical expressions. The well-designed pages perfectly marry words and pictures, allowing readers to savor each illustration. An author's note provides more information about Roy, Silo, Tango, and other chinstrap penguins. This joyful story about the meaning of family is a must for any library.-Julie Roach, Watertown Free Public Library, MA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal Reviews
Toddler/PreS—It's been a decade since Richardson, Parnell, and Cole told the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who became inseparable. When zookeepers gave the pair a motherless egg, they successfully hatched baby Tango. Commemorating the book's 10-year anniversary, this edition gives even younger readers the opportunity to enjoy this pioneering picture book, which was among the first to offer an example of a same-sex family.
[Page 56]. (c) Copyright 2015 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
School Library Journal Reviews
Toddler/PreS—It's been a decade since Richardson, Parnell, and Cole told the true story of Roy and Silo, two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who became inseparable. When zookeepers gave the pair a motherless egg, they successfully hatched baby Tango. Commemorating the book's 10-year anniversary, this edition gives even younger readers the opportunity to enjoy this pioneering picture book, which was among the first to offer an example of a same-sex family.
[Page 56]. (c) Copyright 2015 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.