And Tango Makes Three

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Image:Tangopenguin.jpgAnd Tango Makes Three (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, April 26 2005 ISBN 0-689-87845-1) is a children's book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole, based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two penguins at the New York Aquarium, who for a time, formed a couple. The book follows part of this time in the penguin's lives.

The pair were observed trying to hatch a rock that resembled an egg. When the aquarium staff realized that Roy and Silo were both male, it occurred to them to give them the extra egg of a mixed-sex penguin couple, which was being cared for in an incubator. Penguins can only care for one young at a time, and these other parents had abandoned one of their two eggs. This egg was given to Roy and Silo to care for, in place of their rock. The pair hatched and raised the healthy young chick, a female named "Tango" by keepers, together as a family.

[edit] Controversy

The book has generated controversy among parents in Shiloh, Illinois. As reported by the Associated Press, some parents of students at Shiloh Elementary School, have requested the book be placed in a restricted section of the library and for the school to consider that students have parental permission prior to checking the book out. [1]