Seven more books are now banned from every public school in Utah, including schools across Alpine School District.

The Utah State Board of Education added the titles on Tuesday, Sept. 29, bringing the statewide total to 44 prohibited books, as first reported by ABC4. The bans fall under H.B. 29, Utah's sensitive-materials law, signed by Gov. Spencer Cox in March 2024.

The newly banned titles are House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas, Identical and Perfect by Ellen Hopkins, Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.

Maas is now the most-banned author in Utah, with seven of her titles prohibited. Hopkins follows with six.

How the law works

H.B. 29, sponsored by Rep. Ken Ivory, R-Salt Lake, and Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Davis/Salt Lake, requires school districts to identify and remove material the state deems pornographic or indecent. Once three districts remove the same book, it is banned statewide and every district must dispose of its copies.

The latest seven bans were triggered primarily by removals in Davis, Jordan and Tooele school districts, according to Book Riot's tracking of state records. Davis School District alone has been involved in 43 of the 44 bans.

Alpine School District has contributed to at least seven of the statewide bans, according to Book Riot's earlier reporting when the list stood at roughly 28 titles. The district's current count could be higher.

The pace is accelerating

Twenty-five titles have been added since January alone. Of the 44 books now prohibited, 33 were written by women. The average publication date of the banned titles is 2009.

Utah ranks eighth in the nation for total banned books, according to ABC4.

Federal lawsuit moves forward

Hopkins, a New York Times bestselling author, is also a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the law. A federal judge ruled in September 2026 that the case, Vonnegut v. Utah, can proceed, finding that the authors suffered financial and reputational harm sufficient for legal standing.

The suit was brought by two Utah students along with the estates of Kurt Vonnegut and Maya Angelou, plus authors Elana K. Arnold, Hopkins and Amy Reed. When the Angelou estate joined the case in February 2026, Stephanie Floyd-Johnson, manager of Caged Bird Legacy and Angelou's daughter-in-law, said in an ACLU of Utah press release that restricting access to stories about race, identity and resilience "run counter to the values she championed throughout her life."

The state has argued the law only prohibits schools from using the books as instructional materials and does not prevent students from reading or purchasing them elsewhere.

The full list of banned titles is maintained online by the Utah State Board of Education. No date has been announced for the board's next review of the list.