Every year, parents and community members challenge some books, arguing that school libraries, or sometimes even public libraries, shouldn’t carry them. This time, they’ve had a massive success in one state, getting 13 books wholly banned from schools in Utah.
The kinds of content that get challenged this way span various topics. Some might have adult content or other strong topics, but in many cases, the books are simply about LGBTQ people existing or about racial disparity.
Utah Law
Thanks to new legislation, if three of Utah’s 41 school districts ban a book from their libraries, it’s instantly banned from schools across the state. That means that about 7% of the school districts can make that decision for every student in Utah.
That doesn’t mean kids can’t read the books, of course. Bookstores still sell them, the public library may stock them, and Utah does have internet access. There are even programs like this one run by author Dave Eggers that take donations and, in turn, provide copies of banned books to students upon request.
However, for most students, the most accessible way to a book is their school library or classroom, where they already go every day, don’t need a ride or a good Wi-Fi signal, and don’t have to spend money to take the book home. Removing books from libraries drastically reduces access, even if it can never entirely block it.
What Books Did Utah Ban?
Thirteen books have reached the threshold to be removed from libraries across that state. Almost half of them are from a single author, Sarah J Maas. If you have a teenager who’s into fantasy, you’ll recognize her name.
Others are from Ellen Hopkins, an author who addresses challenging subjects like drug abuse; Margaret Atwood, best known for The Handmaid’s Tale; Judy Blume; and even Rupi Kaur (yes, seriously).
A Court Of Thorns & Roses
Sarah J. Maas’s fantasy series, A Court of Thorns & Roses, is banned—all five books of it, along with another of her titles, Empire of Storms.
The series is fantasy, with the mortal and faerie worlds entangling, and it has won or been nominated for a long list of awards and acknowledgments, including Best Young Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy and Best Young Adult/Middle Grades Novel (nomination). It is a romance, though, and the state of Utah has decided that the interplay between characters is not acceptable reading material for teenagers.
Blankets
Craig Thompson’s autobiographical graphic novel doesn’t just portray a young couple falling in love and falling apart. As he describes it, it does so on top of a history of “a rigorously fundamentalist Christian childhood.”
The book has stood the test of time, remaining popular as the 20th anniversary Edition was released last year. However, it also addresses the abuse that the author and his brother faced at the hands of a male babysitter.
These and other issues addressed in the book (bullying, familial responsibility and parentification, religious identity) are concerns that many teenagers are facing. Still, Utah’s legislators don’t think teens should have access to it.
Tilt & Fallout
Two of Ellen Hopkins’ novels, Tilt and Fallout, are also on the list.
Tilt is the story of three teenagers, all with their struggles surrounding families, substance use, and relationships. Here’s how a reviewer for the Teen Librarian Toolbox in the School Library Journal put it:
“[I]n true Hopkins style it does not pull punches. Tilt is gritty and hard hitting, dealing with issues that I know no adult wants to think teens deal with, and teens know either someone or they themselves are dealing with all too well.”
Fallout is the third in Hopkins’ Crank series. The series overall deals with drug addiction and its effects on both the addict and those around her. In this third novel, Hopkins shows how her main character’s addiction left lasting impacts on her children, following their struggles into adulthood.
In other words, it’s the sort of book (series) you put in a teen’s hand to communicate how damaging substance abuse is, not a glorification of it.
Not for Utah students, though.
Forever
This Judy Blume novel was released in 1975. That means the teen girls who snuck it under their blankets with flashlights when it was new are now watching it yanked out of the school libraries where their granddaughters attend.
Like Blume’s other novels, the book deals with a teenager in a coming-of-age story. In this case, the girl who is entering her first serious romance is 18 and transitioning into college. The main character in the book visits a clinic to acquire birth control. There’s also speculation in the novel about whether one character might be gay.
It’s a book that parents might want to discuss before allowing their younger teens access, but it’s now a book that no high schooler in Utah can find in their campus library.
Oryx & Crake
This is one of Margaret Atwood’s most bizarre books. It primarily takes place inside the memory of the sole character, Snowman, who has survived the apocalypse and is presumed to be the only human alive.
The story told through his memories is of his childhood, his best friend Crake, and the obsession the two develop when they access online material related to child trafficking and abuse. The situation grows violent.
Like Atwood’s best-known work, The Handmaid’s Tale, the book warns about the potential dangers of some of humanity’s worst ideas and behaviors. It’s not for every reader and wouldn’t be appropriate for elementary libraries.
However, high schoolers who might reflect on the lessons in the book and take away valuable lessons won’t be getting it from Utah school libraries.
What Girls Are Made Of
Author Elana K. Arnold spoke to NPR last year about bans on her books, including What Girls Are Made Of, Damsel, Red Hood, and Infandous. Regarding the misconception that banned books suddenly go viral, she explained:
“[T]hat’s not what happens to 999 out of 1,000 [banned] books. It’s a huge hit…In a library, kids can stumble across something they didn’t know they needed until they picked it up and read it. But if something is missing, you don’t know. It’s not there. It’s just a quiet disappearance.”
The book, which hits virtually every square on the Teen Girl Struggle Bingo Card — sexuality, abortion, bullying, bodily functions, love, difficulties with parents, and more — addresses some explicit topics.
However, Arnold says that attacks on her books and claims they are inappropriate are misrepresentations.
Milk & Honey
Rupi Kaur’s book is a collection of poetry about surviving and finding the sweet in the bitter. They’re very abstract, appealing directly to emotions and skipping over the concrete. Reviewers say things like:
“The poetry in this book is so raw and beautiful that I related to so many that I kept going back to reread my favorites and highlight and tab them.”
and
“As women we lose ourselves in other people. We forget that we are worth love and we are important too. I love how she talks about how women are taught to see themselves.”
You can see an example below — but you won’t find it in a Utah school library.
The Future Of Reading In Utah Because Of Book Bans
Under the current law, only a few school districts can impose a ban across the state. As Ellen Hopkins said, taking books out of libraries removes them from teenagers’ hands.
These thirteen books are the first but are unlikely to be the last. If this legislation isn’t overturned, expect this list to grow longer and for more books to be out of reach of your teens.
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