Books and Ideas Are the Most Effective Weapons Against Intolerance and Ignorance

I used to run a bookstore and one of my favorite booksellers was a former high school English teacher. After reading Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner," she told me that she had an urge to teach again because that book was so powerful and she wanted to share it with young minds. Her enthusiasm for the book inspired me to read it and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Recently the American Library Association listed "The Kite Runner" as one of the books that drew the most complaints last year by parents and educators. It was criticized for offensive language and sexual content. Of course, the overwhelming favorite amongst those who seek to control ideas and content is the book "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, with illustrations by Henry Cole. This is an award-winning picture book about two male penguins who become parents. It is cited for being anti-family, pro-gay and anti-religion and has been the most challenged book for three straight years (pun intended).

I jumped over to the Barnes & Noble website (bn.com) to read customer reviews of of the "And Tango Makes Three," and I found mostly positive reviews. However, one of the dissenters posts read (caps are the reviewers):

THIS BOOK IS AN EXAMPLE OF SOMETHING UNNATURAL, WHILE TRYING TO MAKE IT LOOK OTHERWISE WITH A STOLEN EGG (OR CHILD). IF IT WAS MEANT TO BE, IT WOULD OCCUR NATURALLY THROUGHOUT NATURE. IT IS A WARPED VIEW OF FAMILY THAT TRIES TO MAKE IT LOOK ACCEPTABLE. IT PUSHES AN AGENDA THAT CHILDREN DO NOT NEED TO BE A PART OF.

Apparently this particular reviewer failed to see that this story was inspired by actual events at the New York Central Park Zoo. While a zoo isn't a truly natural habitat, it is an extremely close replica. Roy and Silo, the penguins in question for their sexuality, have been offered female companionship at the zoo and have adamantly refused it. They also seemed so desperate for an egg to incubate, they used a rock as a substitute before they were given the abandoned egg that became Tango.

The practice of banning books (a banned book is defined as one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content) is nothing new, but it is always frustrating to me. I have read thousands of books in my lifetime, books with despicable acts and what some would consider questionable language, but I have never felt compelled to be a homosexual because I read Michael Chabon's "The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" or a psychopath because I read Bret Easton Ellis's "American Psycho." I didn't start using the word nigger because of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" or become a devout Christian because I read the Bible. Books provide entertainment, enlightenment, education and escape. They do not force a reader to be the subject or partake in the subject matter.

The title quote come from Lyndon Baines Johnson