UPDATE Jan. 6, 2026: The ACLU, along with several authors, including the Vonnegut estate, have sued Utah over its "sensitive materials" book law. Our original story continues below.
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If Utah students want to read the book that inspired the hit musical “Wicked,” they won’t find it in their public school library.
“Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire, is now part of the growing list of books banned in the state’s K-12 schools. That list stands at 22 titles after three new ones, including “Wicked,” were added at the start of the new year.
The original novel is notably different from the popular Stephen Schwartz musical on Broadway, and the two adapted PG films starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. In a 2024 MassLive interview, Maguire said his book is not meant for children. He purposefully included “somewhat raunchy material” in the early pages to show readers what they were getting into. If they were looking for chorus lines and dancing monkeys, this wasn’t it. It has sex, violence, and sexual violence.
While the book was expressly written for an adult audience, Maguire hasn’t said at what age a reader might be ready for his book, such as older teens. Instead, in interviews, he said he prefers for readers to decide for themselves when they’re ready.
Being on the statewide book removal list means that the book is banned for all grade levels, including high school.
The list is maintained by the Utah State Board of Education and started in 2024. State law mandates that if three school districts, or two districts and five charter schools, remove a book for being pornographic or indecent, as defined in state code, that title has to be removed from every school statewide.
The other two additions, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult, are stories that take place in high school.
Chbosky’s 1999 coming-of-age novel is very popular. The American Library Association named the New York Times best-seller as one of the best books for young adults. It's also frequently on PEN America’s lists of most commonly banned books in America. The novel follows teenager Charlie as he navigates the complexities of high school. It deals with topics like sexual abuse, suicide, friendship, sexuality, relationships, drugs and death.
In interviews, Chbosky has said he’s received thousands of letters over the years from young people telling him how much “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” meant to them, including making them feel less alone about what they were going through.
Picoult’s 2007 novel is about the aftermath of a school shooting that kills 10, as well as the events leading up to it. In 2024, PEN America said “Nineteen Minutes” was the most commonly banned book in the U.S. At the time, Picoult said the designation wasn’t a badge of honor for her, but a call for alarm.
“Nineteen Minutes is banned not because it’s about a school shooting, but because of a single page that depicts a date rape and uses anatomically correct words for the human body,” Picoult told PEN America. “It is not gratuitous or salacious, and it is not – as the book banners claim – porn. In fact, hundreds of kids have told me that reading Nineteen Minutes stopped them from committing a school shooting, or showed them they were not alone in feeling isolated.”
The Utah State Board’s public list doesn’t disclose why districts banned each book.
All three titles were banned after removals in Davis, Tooele and Washington County school districts.
The other books banned in all Utah schools are:
- “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas
- Reported by Alpine, Davis, Jordan, Nebo and Washington school districts
- “A Court of Frost and Starlight” by Sarah J. Maas
- Reported by Alpine, Davis, Jordan, Nebo and Washington school districts
- “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas
- Reported by Alpine, Davis, Nebo and Washington school districts
- “A Court of Silver Flames” by Sarah J. Maas
- Reported by Alpine, Davis, Nebo and Washington school districts
- “A Court of Wings and Ruin” by Sarah J. Maas
- Reported by Alpine, Davis, Nebo and Washington school districts
- “Empire of Storms” by Sarah J. Maas
- Reported by Davis, Jordan and Washington school districts
- “What Girls are Made of” by Elana K. Arnold
- Reported by Alpine, Davis, Jordan and Washington school districts
- “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur
- Reported by Davis, Jordan and Washington school districts
- “Forever” by Judy Blume
- Reported by Davis, Nebo and Washington school districts
- “Tilt” by Ellen Hopkins
- Reported by Davis, Tooele and Washington school districts
- “Fallout (Crank, Book 3)” by Ellen Hopkins
- Reported by Alpine, Davis and Washington school districts
- “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood
- Reported by Davis, Jordan and Washington school districts
- “Blankets” by Craig Thompson
- Reported by Davis, Nebo and Washington school districts
- “Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott
- Reported by Davis, Tooele and Washington school districts
- “Damsel” by Elana K. Arnold
- Reported by Davis, Park City and Washington school districts
- “Like a Love Story” by Abdi Nazemian
- Reported by Davis, Jordan and Washington school districts
- “Tricks” by Ellen Hopkins
- Reported by Davis, Tooele and Washington school districts
- “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
- Reported by Cache, Davis and Tooele school districts
- “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher
- Reported by Nebo, Tooele and Washington school districts
