Find out the 13 Books Banned in Public Schools in Utah

With all the problems going on in the world, Utah’s State Board of Education decided to focus on banning 13 books in public schools across Utah.

Book banning has been on the rise recently as the right has decided to make these major issues to focus on. You know something is wrong when a board of education decided to ban Sarah J. Maas novels. This makes no sense because she is one of many authors that meets the criteria set by the latest decision by Utah’s State Board of Education. You can see the full list of banned books below.

Banned Books in Utah Public Schools

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Mist And Fury by Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Frost and Starlight 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
• What Girls are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold
• Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
• Forever by Judy Blume
• Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
• Fallout by Ellen Hopkins
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
• Blankets by Craig Thompson

Utah Bans Sarah J. Maas

What is interesting about this list is that 6 out of 13 books were written by Mass. This feels like a direct attack on Maas and they decided to add some other books to make it less obvious. The bill was sponsored by Rep Ken Ivory and Rep West Jordan and allows the removal of challenged books statewide if officials in three or more school districts decide that the material in fact does violate state law.

These 13 books were labeled as “objective sensitive material” which translates to pornographic or indecent content according to the bill. This bill is stupid and means that any official can start the process to ban any book they deem inappropriate. And the vague language means that any book can be banned because someone doesn’t think the book is fit for their children to read.

This bill was originally passed in 2022 and was highly controversial at the time. And Utah has doubled down and here we are. Rep. Carol Moss opposed the bill and pointed out the obvious flaw in this bill. A tiny minority can end up removing books from school libraries. That is the current trend as minority groups push for most book bans.

In the state of Virginia, 11 people were behind 60 percent of book banning in the state from 2020 to 2022 according to the Washington Post. These bills give the power to these minority groups and make book banning possible.

Unfortunately, this trend will continue because these small groups have major backing and it helps them to get the base riled up. These are talking points that can be repeated in rallies and on TV. As someone that loves reading books, it is always sad to see books being banned like this. And then people wonder why the next generation doesn’t read as much.

Conclusion

I expect the list of banned books to increase in Utah and it will get only uglier in the coming months. Why do people that haven’t even read these books get to determine who gets to read them. We need a better process to vet books for public schools and shouldn’t let just anyone have this power.

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