3 parents want the Lee County School Board to ban 3 books

Parents are asking the Lee County School Board to ban books.

Students and parents spoke during the Lee County school board meeting and read from books they believed to be controversial for younger children.

Once a complaint is received, there is a review process.

But during Tuesday’s meeting, three parents and two students got up during public comment and singled out three books they say must go.

The books?

Killing Mr. Griffin, Sloppy First and Tricks.

The books touch on the topics of violence and sexuality.

One woman complained about Tricks because “it is painting this picture that Bible-believing parents, you know, they’re not updated, those traditional ways have no place, they’re bigots.”

The woman’s daughter read a section about the book that referenced kissing.

“Page 131, I felt his mouth on mine, we were kissing. Kissing him didn’t make my skin crawl. I liked it, to be honest, I really liked it,” she said.

The girl’s mother said the passage was not appropriate.

However, a district spokesperson said none of the school libraries have the book Sloppy Firsts.

Would removing the books cause any damage?

“Removing these books doesn’t disappear them, it doesn’t take violence, it doesn’t take trauma, it doesn’t take you know, explorations of sex, or sexuality or any of these things out of our lives or out of our experience,” said Jordan Von Cannon, a literature and gender studies professor at FGCU. “But it may take the opportunity that a student has to experience them in the safety of a fictional space.”

Lee County School Board member Debbie Jordan told parents they can place an alert on their child’s school library account that would keep their child from checking out a book they think is inappropriate.