Who is it best suited to?
Young children listening to a short read-aloud. Straightforward narration and Henry Cole’s watercolors follow the penguins’ daily routines, making their shared work of becoming parents easy to follow.
Nonfiction · Nature & Environment · Children's · Picture book
And Tango Makes Three
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 5 / 100Light
- Length
- 32 pagesSimon & Schuster Books for Young Readers · 2005
- Reading time
- 45 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Moderate
- Emotional intensity
- 2 / 5
About 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 2 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
At New York City's Central Park Zoo, two male chinstrap penguins, Roy and Silo, swim together, build a nest of stones and try sitting on a rock as though it were an egg. Their keeper, Mr. Gramzay, notices their efforts and gives them a real egg to tend. This true story follows the pair's shared work of becoming parents.
Reader notes
Gentle and matter-of-fact, the picture book pairs straightforward narration with Henry Cole's watercolors. The penguins remain recognizable animals, without invented dialogue, while their daily routines introduce the idea of a family with two fathers. It is a short read-aloud for young children.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Direct · Spare
- Tone
- Earnest · Hopeful · Warm
- Structure
- Linear
- Driven by
- Character · Relationships
- Point of view
- Third person, omniscient
- Setting
- Central Park Zoo, New York City
- Practical orientation
- Reflective
- Nonfiction form
- Narrative nonfiction
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 1 / 5
- Ideas
- 1 / 5
- Structure
- 1 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Belonging
- Family
- Love
- Parenthood
- Sexuality
Content notes
- Violence
- None
- Sexual content
- None
- Swearing
- None
- Substance use
- None
- Abuse
- None
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Standing and awards
- Lambda Literary Awards finalist, 2006
Questions readers ask
Is it a true story?
Yes, Roy and Silo were two male chinstrap penguins at New York City’s Central Park Zoo. The story follows their efforts to nest and their care for a real egg given to them by their keeper, Mr. Gramzay.
How does it introduce a family with two fathers?
Through Roy and Silo’s shared routines: swimming together, building a nest of stones and tending an egg. The approach is gentle and matter-of-fact, keeping the penguins recognizable as animals without giving them invented dialogue.
How long is it?
32 pages in the Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 2005 hardcover edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers · 2005 · Hardcover. ISBN 9780689878459.
How long does it take to read And Tango Makes Three?
About 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 32-page Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the authors
Justin Richardson
Justin Richardson is an American writer and psychiatrist whose books help adults and children discuss sexuality and family life in clear, practical terms. His conversations with parents, teachers, and students at New York schools inspired a parenting guide about answering children’s questions about sex. He is best known for And Tango Makes Three, co-written with Peter Parnell. Its spare, direct narration follows two male penguins through courtship, nest building, incubation, and the raising of a chick. By arranging the story around observed behavior and shared tasks, Richardson presents an unconventional family through the ordinary routines of care.
Peter Parnell
Peter Parnell is an American playwright and stage adapter whose career also includes television and picture books written with Justin Richardson. His work repeatedly brings large public questions down to the scale of conversation, family, and immediate pressure. In adaptation, he preserves more than plot, using source language, theatrical narration, and tightly drawn relationships to carry an original work's point of view onto the stage. QED emerged from interviews with Richard Feynman's family and secretary as well as work with a biographer. Its single-evening structure gathers scientific achievement, illness, bereavement, teaching, and playfulness into a performable personality rather than a résumé. The same relational focus appears in original drama and writing for children. Dada Woof Papa Hot places social change inside the routines and uncertainties of gay marriage and fatherhood. And Tango Makes Three, coauthored with Richardson from the true story of two male penguins raising a chick, explains family diversity through ordinary acts of nesting and care.
If you liked this
Edition and details
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Publication year
- 2005
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 32
- ISBN
- 9780689878459
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 2005
- Genres and form
- Nonfiction · Nature & Environment · Children's · Picture book
- Editions
- 16
- Languages
- 5 (English, Spanish, Hebrew, Unspecified, Chinese)