Roy and Silo.

Two penguins at the Central Park Zoo.

Together, they incubated an abandoned egg until it hatched.

They raised the baby penguin, Tango, and were a happy family.

Here’s the catch: Roy and Silo are both males.

This children’s story is the most challenged book of 2006. The book is called “And Tango Makes Three” and is written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. This book is one of 546 books that were challenged in 2006. Booth Library will celebrate Banned Books Week, which begins Saturday and ends Oct. 6.

It is observed during the last week of September each year and is celebrated throughout the country by different libraries, schools and universities.

The library will observe Banned Books Week by displaying an exhibit of challenged books in the Marvin Foyer.

“It celebrates our freedom to choose what we want to read and write what you want to write, even if the opinion is considered unorthodox or unpopular,” said Erin Byrne, associate director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the ALA. “It ensures the availability. That’s the main point.”

During Banned Books Week, the ALA encourages everyone to read a book that has been challenged and to share that story with other people.

Still, some people want to take away the availability of books from students.

Allen Lanham, the dean of Booth Library, said the week is important to keep the fact people still ban books out in the open.

“We need to enlighten people that there are challenges to our rights out there, fewer on a university’s campus than everywhere else,” Lanham said. “We want intellectual freedom and we want that ability to pick and choose. But the freedom to censor someone is a major step toward a control of society. If you want to protest, fine, but don’t take books off the shelf.then you have gone way past your protest.”

Jocelyn Tipton, who constructed the exhibit in Booth Library, believes in intellectual freedom. She said students should have access to as much information as they desire. She said the most challenged books are usually ones you would not expect.

“The more frequently challenged books are usually children’s literature,” Tipton said.

According to Fern Kory, a children’s literature professor, children’s books are more than just picture stories such as “And Tango Makes Three.”

Even though the book was on top of the most challenged books list, Kory believes the story is perfectly fine for younger kids to read.

“When children read the book, they see a happy family with two fathers,” Kory said. “The same-sex parents being gay are not that relevant to the child. The interest is solely in the function of the family. The purpose of the story was to show the child that families that are built differently can function like any other family.”

Some parents, however, feel the need to keep their children from learning about that part of life, which is all right, Kory said.

She said she is fine with it as long as the parent doesn’t try to get the books removed from the school entirely so no other students can read it.

This is where the ALA steps in to show that no one has the right to take away a person’s freedom to read whatever book the please.

“People can take offense to anything under the sun,” Byrne said. “We’re here to remind people: You might be horribly offended, but somebody else thinks that is the greatest book ever written.”

Lanham said although he understands people being offended by a book, he doesn’t agree with people trying to push their beliefs onto others.

“If you’re offended by it, don’t read it,” Lanham said. “Protest all you want to, but don’t go so far as to remove the book from it being available to everyone who wants it. The more they challenge it, the more people are going to read it.”

– Marco Santana contributed to this report

Fact box:

Talks about “And Tango Makes Three” making the top of the most challenged list.

Story about the book “Fahrenheit 451” being challenged in a high school.

Story about parents protesting the homosexual content in “And Tango Makes Three.”