We’re getting a lot of new hits related to searches on why “And Tango Makes Three” might be anti-ethnic. I assume this is thanks to the ALA OIF’s recent release of their top 10 most frequently challenged books for 2008, and the fact that Tango again tops the list (for the third year running!). Due to this interest, I thought I’d just give my most recent update on the question.
I did hear back from the ALA OIF in response to my previously posted follow-up questions, and in summary:
- they can’t tell us what type of institution the “anti-ethnic” charge came from (but I assume it has to be public or school library, and more likely a school)
- but they can tell us it happened in North Carolina
- they don’t know of any books beyond Maus and Tango that have been charged as anti-ethnic but have non-human characters
- they’re not sure how the anti-ethnic category came to be, and
- it’s entirely possible that it was checked off by mistake on the report form for And Tango Makes Three
I’m resonably satisfied, but not sated, you know? I’d like to find time sometime in the coming year to dig deeper into the “anti-ethnic” category, try to uncover some of its evolution, and compare the US and Canadian use of the category.
If you’re finding this post first, here are the first and second posts in this series about our dearly beloved anti-ethnic penguins.
-Greyson
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