Fourteen books have already been banned in Utah’s K-12 schools under a new law that went into effect this summer. According to a KUER analysis of public records, another 25 are on the shortlist. What’s more, the bulk of the reports to the Utah State Board of Education come from just two school districts.
For a statewide ban, titles have to first be removed from either three school districts or two districts and five charter schools for being “objective sensitive material.” That means the work is considered “pornographic or indecent” as defined in state code. It has to describe or depict “human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal,” “acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, or sodomy,” or “fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or pubic region.”
The Utah State Board of Education keeps track of reports and alerts schools when a title has met the threshold for statewide removal. Through a public records request, KUER obtained a list of books school districts have deemed “objective sensitive material.”
Out of 163 reports for “objective sensitive material” from nine districts, 102 titles have been reported. These 25 books essentially have two strikes:
- “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
- Reported by Alpine and Davis school districts
- “A Stolen Life: A Memoir” by Jaycee Lee Dugard
- Reported by Davis and Cache school districts
- “Boy Toy” by Barry Lyga
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Damsel” by Elena K. Arnold
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Reported by Davis and Park City school districts
- “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “House of Earth and Blood” by Sarah J. Maas
- Reported by Davis and Nebo school districts
- “It Ends with Us” by Colleen Hoover
- Reported by Davis and Jordan school districts
- “Life is Funny” by E.R. Frank
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Like a Love Story” by Abdi Nazemian
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Looking for Alaska” by John Green
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Perez
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- Push (Precious, Book 1)” by Sapphire
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Red Hood” by Elana K. Arnold
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Shine” by Lauren Myracle
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Sold” by Patricia McCormick
- Reported by Jordan and Washington school districts
- “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “The Carnival at Bray” by Jessie Ann Foley
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “The Handmaid’s Tale (Graphic Novel)” by Margaret Atwood, Renee Nault
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “The Haters” by Jesse Andrews
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
- Reported by Nebo and Washington school districts
- “Tricks (Tricks, Book 1)” by Ellen Hopkins
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
- “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire
- Reported by Davis and Washington school districts
The Davis School District made 77 of the reports and the Washington County School District made 51. Together, the two districts account for 78.5% of all reports. All 14 books that have already been banned statewide were reported by the two districts.
According to enrollment numbers the two districts represent 15.8% of the state’s public K-12 student population. There are 41 districts in the state and more than 100 charter schools.
Part of the reason for the high number of reports could be because both districts reviewed books under what is now the “objective sensitive material” criteria, or what has been called the “bright line” rule, even before the law allowing for statewide bans was passed.
According to an FAQ page from the state board, there may be some school districts that removed books before the 2024 law and didn’t report them to the state board because they used different review criteria or didn’t have sufficient documentation from that review. In order to report a book, the district has to deem it meets the “objective sensitive material” definition and provide evidence.
Schools could still be reviewing books under the new criteria.
Peter Bromberg, associate director of EveryLibrary, a national nonprofit, and member of the Let Utah Read advocacy group, was not surprised to see Davis and Washington so heavily represented. From his own tracking, he said the two districts are some of the most active in pulling books. Bromberg also thinks the numbers speak to the political organizing in the two counties. The conservative Utah Parents United group is based in Davis County.
“It’s harmful to students, harmful to parents, harmful to local taxpayers and local voters,” Bromberg said of the power of a few districts to influence a statewide ban. “It's disenfranchising their voices and their power in the local school boards.”
Several titles on the list of 25 books teetering on the edge explore difficult topics, such as sexual violence and racism. To Bromberg, a story is the safest way to understand and navigate the dangers of the world.
“You're sitting comfortably on your couch with your dog and your parents in the next room, where you can ask them questions,” he said. “So it just breaks my heart, and it offends me as a librarian, but also just as an American, that we're not providing access to these important books to teens in Utah who need them.”
While there may be sex in these books, Bromberg said the point of the book is not sex.
“I think most common-sense Americans and most Utahns understand the difference between a Hustler magazine and a National Book Award-winning novel.”
Paisley Rekdal, co-chair of Utah’s PEN America chapter, was similarly troubled by the number of books on the list that deal with complex and challenging issues.
“What is surprising to me is how many of these books seem to be getting pulled because the content itself, while not prurient, may be emotionally difficult for people to want to imagine simply because they are uncomfortable subjects,” Rekdal said.
To get a fuller sense of American, and even global, history, Rekdal said one has to see there’s been a full range of experiences: good and bad, traumatic and joyful. Literature done well is going to parse out all of those things. That’s why she said pointing to one passage and saying “I don’t feel comfortable with that” is not the same thing as pornography.
“We're at this place where, if we're going to treat history as a form of pornography, which I look at this list and I think that we're starting to threaten to do that, that is really troubling,” she said. “These are not just experiences of individuals. We're talking about how we render, you know, history itself through literature and we need to be able to have students get access to these kinds of stories for their own educational and personal development.”
Rekdal believes that it should be up to families to decide what their kids read, not one small group deciding what kids in a particular district or across the state can read.
“Whenever we have a book ban, we should be really worried about the First Amendment laws being constrained, because that's what this is really about. This is finally about access to information. And the reality is that we all need more information, not less.”
