Since 2024, Utah’s State Board of Education has maintained a list of banned books that all public schools and public charter schools in the state must keep off of their shelves. Of the 35 books currently banned statewide in Utah, many address consent, bodily autonomy, or sexual assault.
The state initially released a list of 13 books banned from Utah public schools in response to a state book-banning law. Featuring popular titles like Forever… by Judy Blume, Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, the publication of the list prompted PEN America to say it was “a dark day” for the freedom to read in Utah — but it’s only gotten darker since, as more and more titles have been added onto the statewide banned book list. Students across Utah are now deprived of access to a staggering number of critically acclaimed books, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Looking for Alaska by John Green among them.
The 2024 law mandating this censorship, HB 29, uses vague, confusing language to censor books that contain sex-related content in all Utah public and public charter schools. Under the law, if three school districts (or two districts and five charter schools) ban a book for containing “objective sensitive material,” the book is subject to removal across the other 39 districts and every charter school, regardless of its literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. (And as reporting has shown, nearly all of the bans thus far have originated with just two school districts.) In other words, HB 29 has eradicated local control over school libraries across the state, denying Utah’s 650,000 public school students access to information and stories under the guise of shielding them from “pornography.” Just one other state, South Carolina, has state-level book bans.
Below is the current list of books banned statewide in Utah. Learn more about Utah’s banned books “No-Read” list and the law behind it here.
- What Girls are Made of by Elana K. Arnold
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- Forever… by Judy Blume
- Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
- Fallout by Ellen Hopkins
- Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
- Blankets by Craig Thompson
- Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
- Like A Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
- Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
- Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
- Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
- Bag of Bones by Stephen King
- Breathless by Jennifer Niven
- The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley
- The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel by Margaret Atwood and illustrated by Renee Nault
- Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- Life Is Funny by E.R. Frank
- The Haters by Jesse Andrews
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins
- A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
- A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
- Lucky by Alice Sebold
