Utah Bans Four More Books, Bringing Total to 32

Thirteen books have been banned in the state since the beginning of 2026. More books were banned in the first year of the state’s book removal law, 2024 (14); If this rate of censorship continues, Utah will easily exceed that number.

Utah passed one of the strictest bills related to textbooks in public schools in 2024. house bill 29 (HB 29) Allows parents to challenge books they deem to have “sensitive content” and it bans books outright from all public schools in the state if those books are deemed to contain “objective sensitive content” or “obscene” in at least three public school districts or two public school districts and five charter schools, according to state code. This bill came into effect on July 1, 2024 It started with 13 titles.

The bill is retroactive, meaning that titles that met the state guidelines before the bill’s start date were included on the list. According to HB 29, whenever a public or charter school removes a book deemed to have “sensitive material”, they must notify the State Board of Education. If that book meets the removal threshold, all schools will be notified and expected to dispose of it.

There are now 32 books banned in any public school in Utah. 24 of them were written by women. The list is as follows:

Blanket by Craig Thompson (2003)

A Court of Frost and Starlight Sara J. By Mass (2018)

Court of Mist and Fury Sara J. By the Mass (2016)

a court of silver flames Sara J. By month (2021)

court of thorns and roses Sara J. By the Mass (2015)

A court of feathers and ruin Sara J. By Mass (2017)

kingdom of storms Sara J. By the Mass (2016)

Controversy by Ellen Hopkins (2010)

forever by Judy Blume (1975)

milk and honey By Rupi Kaur (2014)

oryx and crake by Margaret Atwood (2003)

inclination by Ellen Hopkins (2012)

what are girls made of Elana K. By Arnold (2017)

living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott (2008)

young lady Elana K. By Arnold (2018)

like a love story By Abdi Nazemian (2019)

move by Ellen Hopkins (2009)

water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen (2006)

Thirteen Reasons Why By Jay Asher (2007)

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (1995)

nineteen minutes by Jodi Picoult (2007)

the perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

bag of Bones by Stephen King (1998)

breathless by Jennifer Niven (2020)

carnival in bray By Jessie Ann Foley (2014)

The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel by Margaret Atwood and illustrated by Renée Nault (2019)

red Hood Elana K. By Arnold (2020)

looking for alaska by John Green (2005)

life is fun by E.R. Frank (2002)

the haters by Jesse Andrews (2016)

bluest eye by Toni Morrison (1970)

people kill people by Ellen Hopkins (2018)

The average publication date of titles banned by the state of Utah is now 2009-This was 17 years ago. Many of the book titles removed were probably on the shelves when the people who banned them were students themselves. That they weren’t a problem simply reflects the panic built around “inappropriate” books.

The thing to understand about the law is what it is about, despite the claims “Local Control,” Schools in the state are forced to follow decisions taken in other districts. There are 42 public school districts in Utah, but only nine districts ban the books. Of those, Davis has been included in 31 sanctions and Washington, 29. Jordan School District is responsible for 12 – one reason this list is growing is because the district is now “catching up” with its records – while Tooley is responsible for nine. In other words, Two School districts across the state have most of the restrictions in place.

We’ll continue to see more books added to this list in Utah as the school year progresses. Of course, these are not the only books being banned in a state where books are being banned. Despite the claims of the Federal Education Department. Individual school districts are allowed to ban any book they deem inappropriate – which, of course, helps add more titles to the state list since only three districts need to remove a book before everywhere else.

Utah isn’t the only state with such a book list. South Carolina also maintains an approved list of books that must be removed from each public school district. Their catalog consists of 21 titles, making them This is the state with the most censorship when it comes to state-sanctioned book bans. there is a pending case in that state Also, brought by the South Carolina Association of School Librarians and the ACLU on behalf of three public school students under the age of 18. South Carolina has not added any books to its banned list until May 2025.

None of these laws apply to private or homeschool institutions. This is done intentionally.

Book bans continue to appear in Utah, so expect more books to be added to the list in the coming weeks. The state is working backwards from the date of implementation of the law – so it’s likely that as we see more books banned here, they will continue to be older and older titles.

Clearly, Lawsuit filed against HB 29 The most important task in the state education system is not being hindered: removing books that have been sitting on the shelves for decades. If anything, it has intensified the ban on books since January this year.