Thirteen popular books have been banned from all public schools in Utah, the first wave of bans expected under a new law that bans books if at least three of the state’s 41 school district boards say they contain pornographic or offensive material.
The law, which allows only a few counties to make decisions for the entire state, is one of the most lenient on book bans in the United States, according to PEN America, a free speech organization that tracks book bans in the United States.
The state Board of Education released its first list of banned books this month. It includes a popular young adult novel series by author Sarah J. Maas called “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” as well as books by Judy Blume and Margaret Atwood. The state’s two largest school districts, located in conservative parts of the state, were the first to ban the books. The Davis School District voted to ban all 13 books on the list, while the Alpine School District banned seven of them, including Maas’ series.
The books remain available in public libraries.
Utah’s actions come amid renewed efforts in recent years to ban more books by conservative authors across the country, despite concerns from free speech advocates and some educators and parents.
“The government’s list of books not allowed to be read will impose a dystopian regime of censorship in public schools and, in many cases, directly violate local preferences,” said Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America.
“It is undemocratic to allow just a handful of counties to make decisions for the entire state, and we are concerned that implementing the law will result in a reduction in library diversity for all Utahns,” Meehan said.
At least three other states – Tennessee, Idaho and South Carolina – are in the process of involving state governments in book bans rather than leaving the matter to local communities, the PEN America report said.
Under Tennessee state law, an individual’s complaint to a school board can be forwarded to a textbook commission, which can ban the book from school libraries statewide if the commission finds it inappropriate for the age and maturity of the students.
Idaho law requires school and public libraries to move material deemed “harmful to minors” to an adults-only area or face lawsuits. The new law uses Idaho’s current definition of “obscene material,” which includes any homosexual act.
The Utah law went into effect July 1 and required school districts to report to the Utah Board of Education which books they have banned from their school libraries that meet the criteria of the new law. More books are likely to follow, Meehan said.
Two books by Ellen Hopkins are also on Utah’s list; all but one of the banned books were written by female authors.
“A trend we’re seeing nationwide is the suppression of books that depict and discuss sex and tell stories of sexual violence, often against women,” as well as issues facing the LGBTQ+ community and people of color, Meehan said.
By law, public school libraries must dispose of the books. They may not be sold or distributed, the state said.
“You actually have to throw books away,” Meehan said. “I think that’s just an alarming picture of where we are.”
Only a member of the Utah Board of Education can file an appeal by asking the full board to hold a hearing within 30 days of a book’s addition to the banned list to vote on lifting the ban. No appeals have been filed so far, said Sharon Turner, spokeswoman for the Utah Board of Education.
Natalie Cline, who sits on the board, is pleased with the move but says the list of banned books is far from sufficient. Cline is an outgoing board member who lost in the Republican primary this year after questioning the gender of a high school basketball player.
“Removing only these 13 books when there are hundreds more that are just as explicit and also need to be removed is problematic,” Cline said, saying that tests of the literary merit of books are “absurd” and “subjective.”
Citing the state’s criminal code, Cline added that all sexually explicit content should be banned from K-12 schools, including science or medical classes, which the new law allows.
Another board member, Carol Lear, believes the new law goes too far by allowing the concerns of some parents to influence the decisions of other parents across the state.
“I don’t think I’m pro-pornography when I say that parents should have the right to decide with their children what they want to read,” Lear said, adding that there are other, less restrictive options, including notifying parents about what books their children are checking out from the library.
Across the country, book challenges and bans have reached their highest levels in decades. Public and school libraries are inundated with complaints from citizens and conservative organizations like Moms for Liberty. Increasingly, lawmakers are considering new penalties — serious legal proceedings, large fines and even prison — for distributing books that some consider inappropriate.
This trend comes as officials try to define terms like “obscene” and “harmful.” Many of the conflicts involve materials with racial and/or LGBTQ+ themes, such as Toni Morrison’s novel “Very Blue Eyes” and Maia Kobabe’s memoir “Gender Queer.” And while no librarian or educator has been jailed, the threat alone has led to more self-censorship. Already this year, lawmakers in more than 15 states have introduced bills to impose harsh penalties on libraries or librarians.
Some Republicans are calling for nationwide penalties and restrictions. In the foreword to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for a possible second Donald Trump administration, the right-wing group’s president, Kevin Roberts, wrote of “pornography” that “the people who produce and distribute it should go to prison. Educators and public librarians who provide it should be classified as registered sex offenders.”
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Hanson reported from Helena, Montana, and Bedayn reported from Denver.
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Bedayn is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues.
