Sara Gruen’s New York Times bestseller “Water for Elephants” is the latest book to land on Utah’s growing list of titles banned from all public schools in the state.
The novel follows Jacob Jankowski, who becomes entangled in the carny life during the Great Depression. As veterinary school dropout, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the menagerie. It’s there he meets and falls in love with Marlena, the circus’ star equestrian performer who is married to August, a cruel animal trainer. Jacob also meets Rosie, an elephant with whom he eventually forms a special bond.
The book was adapted into a 2011 film starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz. It also became a Broadway musical that ran for about nine months in 2024. It will soon tour nationally beginning this fall, according to Variety — including a run August 25-30, 2026, at Salt Lake City’s Eccles Theater.
(Sara Krulwich | The New York Times) Alexandra Gaelle Royer, airborne, in “Water for Elephants” at the Imperial Theater in New York, Feb. 23, 2024. The book on which the musical is based, by author Sara Gruen, has been placed on the state of Utah's list of books banned in public schools.
“Water for Elephants” brings the total number of books banned from all Utah public schools to 18. Women wrote all but two of them.
The state released its initial list of banned titles in August 2024, in accordance with a law passed by the Utah Legislature last year. That law went into effect in July of that year.
The law requires a book be removed from all public schools in the state if at least three school districts (or at least two school districts and five charter schools) determine it amounts to “objective sensitive material” — pornographic or otherwise indecent content, as defined by Utah code.
The Utah State Board of Education also issued guidance recommending that schools prohibit students from bringing “objective sensitive material” onto campus.
“These titles should not be brought to school or used for classroom activities, assignments, or personal reading while on school property,” the USBE’s guidance reads.
“Water for Elephants” was officially banned May 5 after the Davis, Cache County and Tooele County school districts removed the title.
State officials typically do not cite the details of a book’s content when placing it on the banned list.
