Utah Adds Stephen King’s ‘Bag of Bones’ to Statewide School Ban List, Reaching 23 Titles

Overview

• The statewide ban was triggered after Davis, Granite, Jordan and Tooele school districts removed the novel, meeting the statute’s threshold.
• Under HB 29, a book must be pulled statewide once it is removed in at least three districts or in two districts plus five charter schools, with required notification to the State Board of Education.
• The list now includes 23 prohibited titles, which puts Utah ahead of South Carolina’s 21 in state-level school book bans, according to reporting.
• Legal challenges to the law are ongoing, including a suit by bestselling authors and a recent filing by the Maya Angelou estate, but the statute remains in effect.
• Two districts—Davis and Washington—account for nearly 80% of statewide bans to date; “Bag of Bones” was banned in Davis but not in Washington, and Granite contributed to a statewide ban for the first time.