LABELLE — During the Oct. 17 meeting of the Hendry County School Board LaBelle City Commissioner Hugo Vargas brought up the issue of banned books, referencing a Banned Books Week display at Barron Library.  In an Oct. 27 interview with the Caloosa Belle Independent, Vargas explained his stance. 

LABELLE -- Barron Library observed Banned Books Week.

Vargas said the display was brought to his attention by a citizen who sent him photos of the display. He said he visited the library to check it out. 

“I did my due diligence as a leader in the community, as a citizen in the community,” said Vargas. “I asked them many questions and they were legitimate questions. And I got some very misleading answers, and redirecting answers and finger pointing answers and they weren’t making sense.” 

The library display has since been removed. 

One of the photos of the display showed books such as Charlotte’s Web, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, and 1984.”

“Those are not the reason why I went over there,” Vargas explained. “Don’t make me out to want to ban Charlotte’s Web. That’s not what I am about.” 

He said he objected to some of top 10 most challenged books of 2022 also on display.

The Top 10 Challenged Books List includes: 

1. Gender Queer – Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit 
2. All Boys Aren’t Blue – Reasons: Challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit 
3. The Bluest Eye – Reasons: Challenged for rape, incest, claimed to be sexually explicit, EDI content 
4. FLAMER – Reasons: Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit 
5. Looking for Alaska – Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content 
6. Perks of Being a Wallflower – Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, rape, drugs, profanity 
7. Lawn Boy – Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit 
8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity 
9. Out of Darkness – Reason: Claimed to be sexually explicit 
10. (Four-way tie) A Court of Mist and Fury – Reason: Claimed to be sexually explicit; Crank – Reason: Claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs; Me and the Dying Girl – Reason: Claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity; and, This Book is Gay – Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, sex education, claimed to be sexually explicit 

 The Top Ten list was compiled by the American Library Association and includes challenges to library, school and university materials and services in 2022, with 2,571 unique titles that were challenged or banned in 2022. 

LGBTQIA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning), intersex, and asexual (or allies). EDI stands for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. 

 “There are definitely some good reasons why those books are challenged,” Vargas said.   “This material aimed at children and the sexualization of children is unacceptable in the city of LaBelle, it’s unacceptable in our county. 

“I will not stop fighting for our children. They are our greatest resource. They are the future for the city and for this county. We must protect them,” said Vargas. 

“I think that there needs to be a conversation had on what we should be providing to the public with taxpayer money. There’s a reason why these books aren’t acceptable in schools,” he said. 

Vargas said he is also concerned these books are in public libraries. 

“I’ve been told middle school age children can have access and can check them out with parent permission,” he said. “There are people who don’t pay attention to what their children are doing.” 

Vargas acknowledged that some books adults read, such as popular romance novels, have sexual content. 

“I don’t see romance novels being pushed to our children,” he said. 

He said it’s the city’s responsibility to protect children from inappropriate books, just as they shouldn’t have access to alcohol and drugs. 

“That’s not censorship. That’s protecting them. This is not about censoring. It’s protecting our children,” he said. 

“There’s an ideology being pushed in this country. We must protect the children, especially the sexualization of children,” he said. 

Vargas said some book challenges – such as efforts to ban “Charlotte’s Web” -- are ridiculous.  

“There is stuff that is nonsense. Common sense will tell you what is appropriate and what is not appropriate,” he said. 

A spokesperson for Barron Library said the Library Board will address the issue with the city commission.

Other reasons for challenging books ...

The  Banned Books displays in the photos Vargas shared included:

• “The Great Gatsby” – Banned in 1987 by the Baptist College of Charleston, S.C. for the book’s sexual references and profane language.

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – The Harry Potter books made the “most banned” list in schools and libraries in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2019. Those complaining about the books objected to references to witchcraft and wizardry.
• 1984 -- According to the American Library Association, this is one of the most challenged books from decade 2010-2019. Critics object to the political themes, sexuality and violence. In the Soviet Union the book was banned because of its anti-communist viewpoint.
• Charlotte’s Web – The beloved tale of the friendship between a spider and a pig was banned by a Kansas school district in 2006 after a group of people claimed that talking animals were the work of the devil. They also complained the death of a spider was inappropriate in a children’s book.
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, – This book has been controversial since its publication in 1885. The book has been challenged for the use of a racial slur and depictions of racist attitudes.
• The Catcher in the Rye –  Since its publication in 1951, the book has been banned more than 25 times in schools across the country. Critics cite the use of foul language and the theme of mental illness as inappropriate for teenaged readers. In 2009, it was banned by a high school in Montana.

100 most banned and challenged books of the last decade

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiled this list of the most banned and challenged books from 2010-2019 by reviewing both the public and confidential censorship reports it received.

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian  by Sherman Alexie
2. Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
3. Thirteen Reasons Why  by Jay Asher
4. Looking for Alaska  by John Green
5. George  by Alex Gino
6. And Tango Makes Three  by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
7. Drama  by Raina Telgemeier
8. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
9. Internet Girls (series) by Lauren Myracle
10. The Bluest Eye  by Toni Morrison
11. The Kite Runner  by Khaled Hosseini
12. Hunger Games  by Suzanne Collins
13. I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel
14. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
15. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
16. Bone (series) by Jeff Smith
17. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
18. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
19. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss
20. Sex is a Funny Word  by Cory Silverberg
21. Alice McKinley (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
22. It's Perfectly Normal  by Robie H. Harris
23. Nineteen Minutes  by Jodi Picoult
24. Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz
25. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
26. A Brave New World  by Aldous Huxley
27. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out  by Susan Kuklin
28. Of Mice and Men  by John Steinbeck
29. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
30. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
31. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic  by Alison Bechdel
32. It's a Book by Lane Smith
33. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by by Mark Twain
34. The Things They Carried  by Tim O'Brien
35. What My Mother Doesn't Know  by Sonya Sones
36. A Child Called "It"   by Dave Pelzer
37. Bad Kitty (series) by Nick Bruel
38. Crank by by Ellen Hopkins
39. Nickel and Dimed  by Barbara Ehrenreich
40. Persepolis  by Marjane Satrapi
41. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby  by Dav Pilkey
42. This Day in June  by Gayle E. Pitman
43. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
44. A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl  by Tanya Lee Stone
45. Beloved  by Toni Morrison
46. Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
47. In Our Mothers' House  by Patricia Polacco
48. Lush by by Natasha Friend
49. The Catcher in the Rye  by J. D. Salinger
50. The Color Purple  by Alice Walker
51. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time  by Mark Haddon
52. The Holy Bible
53. This Book is Gay  by Juno Dawson
54. Eleanor & Park  by Rainbow Rowell
55. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close  by Jonathan Safran Foer
56. Gossip Girl (series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
57. House of Night (series) by P.C. Cast
58. My Mom's Having A Baby  by Dori Hillestad Butler
59. Neonomicon  by Alan Moore
60. The Dirty Cowboy  by Amy Timberlake
61. The Giver  by Lois Lowry
62. Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl  by Anne Frank
63. Bless Me, Ultima  by Rudolfo Anaya
64. Draw Me a Star  by Eric Carle
65. Dreaming In Cuban  by Cristina Garcia
66. Fade  by Lisa McMann
67. The Family Book  by Todd Parr
68. Feed  by M.T. Anderson
69. Go the F--k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
70. Habibi  by Craig Thompson
71. House of the Spirits  by Isabel Allende
72. Jacob's New Dress  by Sarah Hoffman
73. Lolita  by Vladimir Nabokov
74. Monster  by Walter Dean Myers
75. Nasreen’s Secret School  by Jeanette Winter
76. Saga  by Brian K. Vaughan
77. Stuck in the Middle  by Ariel Schrag
78. The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
79. 1984  by George Orwell
80. A Clockwork Orange  by Anthony Burgess
81. Almost Perfect  by Brian Katcher
82. Awakening  by Kate Chopin
83. Burned  by Ellen Hopkins
84. Ender's Game  by Orson Scott Card
85. Fallen Angels  by Walter Dean Myers
86. Glass  by Ellen Hopkins
87. Heather Has Two Mommies  by Lesle´a Newman
88. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings  by Maya Angelou
89. Madeline and the Gypsies  by Ludwig Bemelmans
90. My Princess Boy  by Cheryl Kilodavis
91. Prince and Knight  by Daniel Haack
92. Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology  by Amy Sonnie
93. Skippyjon Jones (series) by Judith Schachner
94. So Far from the Bamboo Grove  by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
95. The Color of Earth (series) by Tong-hwa Kim
96. The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
97. The Walking Dead (series) by Robert Kirkman
98. Tricks  by Ellen Hopkins
99. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding  by Sarah S Brannen
100. Year of Wonders  by Geraldine Brooks

The Bible is number 52 on the 100 Most Challenged Books list. Many of the challenges were reactions to bans of other books. Most recently, in 2022, the Escambia County School District pulled the Bible from school classroom shelves for review. According to the complaint form, the Bible was challenged for “sexism, sex, violence, genocide, slavery, rape and bestiality.” The person who complained attached excerpts from the Bible to justify the allegations. The school district opted to keep the Bible after learning the Florida Legislature had already determined the Bible is an “appropriate instructional resource” in public schools.