School board votes to keep challenged book in elementary libraries

[proud2BlibKansan]

The North Kansas City school board voted Monday night to keep a children’s book in school libraries despite the concerns of a parent.

Board members decided to retain the book “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson in a 3-2 decision after more than an hour of discussion. However, they also agreed to place the elementary library card catalog online so that parents can view which materials are in their child’s library and decide whether they would like to request any individual restrictions for their child.

“And Tango Makes Three” came into question after parent John Dixon requested that the story be removed from circulation in all North Kansas City schools.

The book tells the story of two male penguins living at the zoo who care for and raise a penguin chick together.

more . . . http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/1644970.html

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. Ooooh. Two male penguins.

How incredibly frightening.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. LOL

Pretty darn silly.

[Barack_America]

5. Not to mention that this is typical behavior for male penguins.

Must all fundies burn their "Happy Feet" DVDs now the sinful ways of penguins has been revealed?

[rpannier]

2. Lordy people have way too much time on their hands

and are too easily offended

They'd never make it here in Asia

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I wonder if these parents spend a lot of time checking out the books in their child's school library

I have this mental image of wingnuts pouring over the shelves.

[MountainLaurel]

7. They don't even bother with that

9 times out of 10, they get an action alert from their church, or whatever local or national hatemongers groups they belong to, that tell them to beware of this horrible book that will teach their previous youngsters about circle jerks and glory holes by way of penguins. So the parent asks if the school has the book, and then raises a stink about it. Almost never have they actually read the books that they're challenging.

[tularetom]

6. I like Christmas. I'm ambivalent about Christ.

But boy do I dislike a lot of Christians.

I have no problem if these assholes want to swell in their own separate reality. What I object to is when their paranoia intersects with the real world and fucks things up for the rest of us.

(You didn't say it but I assume those who objected to the penguin book were a bunch of religious wackos).

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. They sound like religious whackos

But I can't say for sure.

[Patchuli]

12. The news link didn't say they were 'fundies'

but you assumed it. It could just be another asshole parent who is a homophobe. Christians don't have exclusivity in that area. I understand what you are saying about disliking extremists...so do I but the ready assumption that it must be a Christian just sucks. For the record, I am a born again Christian, not a 'fundie' who works as a library tech in a school and feel that books should not be banned or removed from libraries. There must be freedom to read whether or not some folks like the content. Assumptions are dumb.

[FLyellowdog]

9. This would be a difficult decision for me...

because penguins are both black AND white. There's no clear cut way to distinguish between whether it's a black or white issue...but because penguins aren't gray, a decision HAD to be made, and made quickly. Therefore, I'm guessin I support the school board and any further decisions they make concerning penguins. We definitely can't allow rampant discrimination to prevail. Carry on.

[babylonsister]

10. The 'concern' from John Dixon blows me away. Good on the

school board!

[bertman]

11. If we start allowing gay penguin marriage I'm moving to Mexico City. Oh wait.

[jberryhill]

13. This is just wrong

We should not be teaching our children that it is "okay" to be a penguin, or that the penguin lifestyle is an acceptable alternative for them.

[WCGreen]

14. Two hockey players from Pittsburgh raise a child.....

[niyad]

15. let me get this straight--ONE idiot complains, wants the book removed from all the libraries,

and the school board spends an hour discussing it? I would have told him to take a hike.

on the other hand, considering this is KS--I am truly amazed that the school board showed this much intelligence.