Utah passed one of the most restrictive book ban laws in the previous legislative session and now, we’re seeing the ongoing results of that new law. House Bill 29 allows parents to challenge books they deem “sensitive material” while also outright banning books from public schools if those books have been deemed “objective sensitive material” or “pornographic” per state code in at least three school districts or two school districts and five charter schools statewide. This law means that once a book has been banned in three public school districts or two districts and five charter schools, it is added to a statewide list of books banned from every one of those public institutions throughout Utah.
The law, which went into effect July 1, applied retroactively, meaning that every school needed to submit to the Utah State Board of Education the titles that had been deemed against the law in their district. Now, any time a public or charter school removes a book deemed “sensitive material,” they must notify the State Board of Education. If that book now meets the threshold of removals, all schools will be notified and expected to dispose of it.
Utah released its initial list of books banned statewide in August. Those thirteen titles included:
- Blankets by Craig Thompson (2003)
- A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas (2018)
- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (2016)
- A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (2021)
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (2015)
- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (2017)
- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas (2016)
- Fallout by Ellen Hopkins (2010)
- Forever by Judy Blume (1975)
- Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (2014)
- Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood (2003)
- Tilt by Ellen Hopkins (2012)
- What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold (2017)
Now, the state has added a 14th title to the list.
Elizabeth Scott’s Living Dead Girl, an award-winning book published for teens in 2008. The 16 year old book will need to be pulled from every public school and charter district throughout the state.
The book was banned after the state compiled reported bans from districts across the state. Scott’s book had been banned in Davis, Washington County, and Tooele County Schools. Every public school in the state is now required to dispose of the book. It is unclear how, exactly, districts plan to get rid of the books, as the law makes two stipulations: the books cannot be sold or distributed. It is up to each district to create a policy, begging the question of what other methods of disposal will be implemented.
Of note, every title on the state banned list, save for one, is written by a woman. The average age of the books banned statewide is 14 years old, a reminder that the vast majority of books being censored throughout the country–and in Utah specifically–are nowhere near “new” books.
The list is not only a clear statement about the power a few can wield but it is also a statement about the state of public education. These book bans apply only to public schools, opening up the convenient argument from those power-wielding groups that if other parents don’t like the decision, they can simply send their students to private school or homeschool them. Utah also passed an updated voucher scheme this past legislative session.
Utah’s not the only state dropping news of statewide book bans this week. South Carolina banned seven books from all schools across the state on election day, and the State Department of Education will be considered four more titles on November 21. Three of the titles the committee will review this week all come from the complaint of a single parent; one of those titles is a literature textbook.
Though Utah’s book banning law was a model for South Carolina’s, in South Carolina, there is no mandate that the books banned by the state must have been banned in any school districts.
Utah’s law is a harbinger of similar bills to come in other states next legislative session. While draconian book ban laws are currently on hold in Texas and in Iowa, state-sanctioned book banning laws passed in Idaho, Tennessee, and, as mentioned above, South Carolina this year. Tennessee’s law is playing out district by district, with Wilson County Schools banning nearly 400 titles this month and Rutherford County banning 150.
