And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, Illustrated by Henry Cole

Image

Figure 1. And Tango Makes Three book cover (2019).

Evaluation of Book

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole, tells the story of families within the Central Park Zoo in New York. One family, two male chinstrap penguins named Silo and Roy, is unique because they fell in love and were given an egg to hatch and raise as a family. However, in every other way, this trio is just the same as all other families in the zoo and the city. And that is what makes this story special, Roy and Silo were given a chance to have a family and be the same as everyone else.

One of the most obvious aspects of And Tango Makes Three is the drawing a line in the sand. When the story talks about families and then shows the two male penguins mating, it is understood that they will get to have a baby despite them both being males. And when an egg is given to the couple, the reader understands that this will be Tango. And because the focus of the story is families, the reader knows that the conclusion of the story will be positive, Tango will survive and the family will always be together.

Henry Cole does a wonderful job of reinforcing the text with the pictures he drew for the book. At the start of the book, the story talks of Central Park in New York City where people sail boats and ice skate. Therefore, the pictures show a boy sailing a boat plus people ice skating outdoors during winter. Plus, when Silo and Roy bow, walk, and swim together, these images were shown with the pictures. This concept of reinforcing the text remains constant throughout the book.

Henry Cole also establishes setting with this paint style art. One example is when the penguin house is shown. The rock ledges and water add to the story of what everything looks like within the exhibit. And when Roy and Silo make a nest, a central part of where they hang out to keep their imaginary and then real egg warm, the pictures show the nest and how the rocks are used to create a concave area to surround and protect the egg. The detail within the pictures helps create the setting while also showing the reader how things should look.

Response

The first time I read And Tango Makes Three, I read it to my son. His first question during the book was why two boys loved each other. Luckily, this was easy to answer. I asked him if he loved his friends at school and church along with loving his male cousins. He happily answered yes, of course. This, I explained, is ok and therefore it is ok for two penguins to love each other too. This view of the world meshed well with how I have raised him, that kindness is what matters. And this also helped me learn that I will need to keep reinforcing this idea so that he accepts all types of people that he meets and remembers to include everyone.

Conclusion

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole, is a beautiful book with a story about everyone being the same while also being unique. It provides a great jumping off point to help children understand that everyone wants the same types of things and everyone can fit in with the world. Out of four stars, I give this book all four.

Citation

Richardson, J. Parnell, P. & Cole, H. (2015). And Tango makes three. New York, NY: Little Simon.

Willis, C. (2019). And Tango makes three book cover (photo). Retrieved April 28, 2019 from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KkKrzqj-tvrvWYEcocxSlAZzkC-MAXGf/view?usp=sharing