Small group of districts continues to drive Utah’s statewide book bans

Looking for Alaska" by John Green has been added to Utah's statewide list of books banned from all public school libraries, bringing the total to 28 Photo:

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” has been added to Utah’s statewide list of books removed from public school student access, according to a statewide removal spreadsheet linked from the Utah State Board of Education’s Library Media page.

The spreadsheet shows the title met the threshold for statewide removal after being challenged and removed in Davis, Tooele, and Washington school districts.

The Utah State Board of Education’s Library Media page says books are placed on the statewide removal list when they are found to contain “objective sensitive materials” and have been removed on that basis by at least three school districts or by two school districts and five charter schools. The page says the list includes titles that “should be removed from student access in all Utah public schools.”

The state list also shows that Utah’s statewide book bans are often being driven by the same small cluster of districts. Davis appears on nearly every recent entry, frequently paired with Washington, Tooele, Jordan, Nebo or Granite. Under Utah’s law, that is enough to turn a handful of local removal decisions into a statewide mandate, effectively allowing a small number of districts to shape what students can access in public schools across Utah.

The addition of “Looking for Alaska” marks the latest expansion of a list that has grown steadily in recent months. On March 6, TownLift reported that “Breathless,” “The Carnival at Bray,” “The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel,” and “Red Hood” had been added to the statewide list, bringing the total to 27 at that time.

TownLift has tracked the list’s growth since the start of the year. In January, TownLift reported that “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” “Nineteen Minutes,” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” were added, bringing the statewide total to 22 at that point.

In February, Park City residents launched Banned Book Babes, a local book club formed in response to Utah’s growing restrictions on school libraries. Utah had 23 titles banned statewide at the time, with Stephen King’s “Bag of Bones” the most recent addition then.

The law behind the removals is also facing a court challenge. In January, Utah News Dispatch reported that award-winning authors, the Kurt Vonnegut estate, and two Utah high school students sued the state over the law behind the removals, arguing it violates First Amendment protections. As the statewide list continues to grow, the fight over who decides what students can read is playing out not only in school districts and libraries but also in court.