It's Banned Books Week, that one week a year when the American Library Association (ALA) reminds sensible Americans that there are still unhinged individuals out there who want to censor your reading material.
And as with every year, the ALA has released the top-10 books most frequently contested from the previous year. For 2014, they are:
1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”
2. Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint. Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions”
3. And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”
4. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”
5. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
Reasons: Nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group. Additional reasons: “alleges it child pornography”
6. Saga, by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Reasons: Anti-Family, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.
7. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited to age group, violence
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”
9. A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group
10. Drama, by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: sexually explicit
All of these are ridiculous reasons to ban a book, obviously. But And Tango Makes Three holds a special spot on this blog, as I recounted the book being banned as far back as five years ago. The true story of penguin love affairs needs to be made into a Hollywood epic immediately. As I wrote five years ago:
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The real-life story occurred when two penguins named Roy and Silo found the penguin dating scene a little thin in the zoo, so they hooked up on a platonic level and created their own sort of bachelor pad. Being in such close quarters, romance was bound to happen. In time, Roy and Silo decided to try dating casually, before things started heating up. According to zookeepers, the duo eventually tried hatching a rock together. Admittedly, sex education is lacking at the zoo. But who hasn't had that awkward sex stage at some point?
After being given an egg to hatch together, Roy and Silo brought Tango, their daughter, into their lives. Raising Tango to maturity, Tango would eventually mate up with a male, Tanuzi, and live happily ever after.
But the white-hot media spotlight on Roy and Silo doomed their romance. First, they were evicted from their nest by other aggressive penguins. The penguins didn't say anything to the media, but I'm just putting it out there that their landlord was homophobic. Soon, Silo was seeing women on the side, especially a morally loose female penguin from California named Scrappy. Meanwhile, Roy was last seen alone, single, and staring at a wall. (Yes, that link goes to a New York Times article.) The lust between Silo and Scrappy was short-lived, as the California minx was off seeing other penguins, stepping out on Silo before they got too serious. Alas, Roy and Silo could never rekindle their romance. Roy could never trust Silo for his philandering ways.
Greatest story ever told??
Greatest story ever told.
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Five years later, the book is still amongst the most banned books in America--and it's still the greatest story ever told.
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