No complaints over children’s books in area
SMMUSD HDQTRS — A controversial children’s book that made headlines nationwide late last year after parents complained that the content inappropriately introduced the topic of homosexuality to a premature audience has hardly aroused a peep from Santa Monica parents.
In what is considered one of the most liberal and open-minded cities in California, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District [SMMUSD] and the city’s public libraries share an equally progressive approach to its collection of literary material.
In fact,the Santa Monica Public Library has several copies of the book “And Tango Makes Three”by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.
The author states in the book that the story is based on actual events at the Central Park Zoo where two male chinstrap penguins, named Roy and Silo — whom zookeepers believe fell in love — adopted, hatched and raised their own chick, named Tango.
Released by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing in April 2005, the nature of the book and ensuing outcry from parents prompted school and library officials in parts of the country to temporarily pull the item from shelves while they evaluated whether it was appropriate for children.
“The topic of diversity and issues in the home is a whole area we intentionally collect material on to help families communicate and talk about issues and deal with the issues that come up in their household,” said Santa Monica City Librarian Greg Mullen on Thursday.
The public library houses a collection of parenting books that deal with issues that could occur in the home. Examples include “Russ and the Firehouse,” a story about a young boy with Down syndrome who spends the day at a fire department with his uncle; and “My Dad,” which tells the story about a brother and sister who face the challenges of an alcoholic father.
Officials in SMMUSD believe that the books used in the classroom and available in the libraries should reflect the community in which it serves. In a technological age when young children and teenagers have easy access to a seemingly unlimited supply of materials, censorship would only spark their curiosity in the subject matter, said Superintendent Dianne Talarico.
“This is about providing children information and trusting that they’re going to ask intelligent questions and will respond in a way that is developmentally appropriate, whether in the home or in the school,”Talarico said on Thursday.“I believe information is power.”
SMMUSD could not comment on whether the book was available in the school system. The book might not be in the collection yet since it’s relatively new, Talarico speculated.
Though censorship and controversy related to books has not come up during Talarico’s helm at SMMUSD, it has popped up over the years while she worked for a school district in San Francisco.
Talarico was the principal of a middle school when a colleague in the district received some media attention for reading a book about a child with two mothers to her kindergarten class. When Talarico was a middle school teacher, the district evaluated its collection of books on Christopher Columbus and discovered that its materials were outdated and did not mention any current research by historians about what might have really happened.
The district decided to introduce both the old and new historical information to the students and asked them to draw their own conclusions.
“The situation in every community is very unique,” Talarico said. “I still stand by the principle that kids have access to information so much more than we did as youth and it’s how we respond to their questions about information.”
The district policy of adopting books into the curriculum or the library starts with a list of books pre-approved by the California Department of Education. The SMMUSD Board of Education will then adopt the textbooks from the pre-approved list to add into its curriculum. Every year, the board will focus on a different subject area for its textbook adoption. For example, the board adopted new social studies books last year. This year, the subject matter is science.
The textbooks go through a seven-year cycle. The process of adding new books into the school libraries is a bit more lax. Board approval is not required if less than five copies are added to the collection, but library officials will still consult a state recommended list.
“We’re really looking for books that are personally in line with state standards that provide multiple entry points for a variety of students’ needs and learning style,” said Maureen Bradford, director of educational services for the district.
The district has received little to no complaints from parents about the content of books in the library or the classroom.
Concerned patrons have the opportunity to voice their grievances with a particular book or video at the public library by submit-ting a challenge in writing. Whenever a challenge is received, the library forms a committee to review the material in question.
Mullen could only recall one item that was challenged and eventually removed from the collection. The topic of the book concerned a scientific subject matter that had undergone considerable development since the book was published. The book was removed because it was considered to be outdated.
Another book that was challenged was written by an author who was accused of plagiarism. Rather than pulling the book from the shelves, the library decided to add a note with the book warning readers that there was a newer version available.
“We’re very careful about the selection process,” Mullen said about the books in the library.
Once upon a time, a zookeeper by the name of Rob Gramzay observed that two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo fell in love and were trying to start a family of their own. The two penguins discovered each other in 1998, the book states.
Gramzay noticed the two penguins were sitting on rocks, mistaking them for eggs, and decided to give them one of two fertile eggs that another penguin had laid, since the heterosexual penguin couple had problems in the past with raising two eggs.
The egg hatched and out came baby Tango. The three penguins could still be seen swimming around in Central Park Zoo, the authors say.
But rumor has it that Roy and Silo have since split up. It’s unclear who has custody of Tango.
Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman was only on the job for a few months at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System in North Carolina when he pulled “And Tango Makes Three” from the shelves at the library.
In Shiloh, Ill., located about 19 miles from St. Louis, the Shiloh Village School District 85 formed a committee to review the book after a parent raised concerns about the theme in November. The committee recommended moving the book from the fiction section to another shelf. However, the district attorney advised against the move, believing that it would be a form of censorship.
Instead, the parents who do not want their children to check out the book can fill out a form to flag librarians, said Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw on Thursday.
“I think they were concerned for their own kids and care deeply about their own children, and that’s what makes them great parents,” Filyaw said. “We’re trying to balance their concerns with the understanding of other people in our school system.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 12, 2007. Read the original PDF.