NURTURE
The Book Bans Heard
By Farhan Shah
Around the World
In July, the National Library
Board Singapore removed
two children’s books – And
Tango Makes Three and
The White Swan Express
– after a concerned parent
emailed the Chief Librarian,
complaining that the titles
were not “pro-family”.
The decision sparked a
maelstrom of furious debate
and divided the nation. We
explore the issue.
It started out as a Facebook post,
triumphantly written by Teo Kai Loon
in the “We are against Pinkdot in
Singapore” group. In his post, Teo
mentioned that he had lodged a
complaint regarding two children’s
books titled And Tango Makes Three
and The White Swan Express on
the basis of their homosexuality
undertones. In the same post, Teo
posted an email response written by
Tay Ai Cheng, Chief Librarian of the
National Library Board Singapore.
The email went viral, as the people
of Singapore started drawing lines
in the sand and taking pot shot 2@