Update • ‘Modern day book-burning’: Bestselling authors sue Utah officials over book bans
More book bans are ushering in the 2026 winter semester, with three new titles added to Utah’s growing list of books prohibited in public schools.
They are: “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire; “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult; and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky.
The additions bring Utah’s total number of banned books to 22.
Maguire’s 1995 dark fantasy novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” reimagines the legendary tale of “The Wizard of Oz” from the perspective of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba.
It follows her life, her friendship with Glinda, The Good Witch, and her fight for the rights of animals, who are being oppressed by a not-so-wonderful Wizard of Oz.
At its core, the book explores the “nature of evil,” Maguire told the BBC in a 2024 interview. But more specifically it asks “what does being ‘evil’ mean?” Maguire explained.
The novel is the first installment in a four-part series, and inspired the hit Broadway musical, “Wicked.” The stage musical was adapted into a two-part film saga, starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. Both movies are rated PG.
Picoult’s 2007 New York Times bestseller “Nineteen Minutes” depicts a school shooting in the fictional town of Sterling, New Hampshire. The book focuses on the aftermath and explores the motivations of the shooter, Peter Houghton, who was relentlessly bullied.
In an Instagram Reel shared in October 2024, Picoult said that the book is about a school shooting, “which is something that our kids, unfortunately, do not need a book to learn about.”
She went on to say “hundreds of students” have told her that “Nineteen Minutes” prevented them from committing a school shooting or made them feel less alone.
“The book did not harm them,” she said. “It gave them tools to deal with an increasingly divided and different world.”
Picoult has been a vocal critic of book bans, as “Nineteen Minutes” has consistently ranked among the most frequently banned books in schools across the country.
In a 2024 interview with New Hampshire Magazine she called the bans “frustrating.”
“What’s the most upsetting to me is that the reason ‘Nineteen Minutes’ is banned is not because it’s about a school shooting,” Picoult said. “It’s because of the word ‘erection’ on page 313. My books are not in elementary school libraries — my books are in high school libraries, and you cannot tell me that an anatomically correct word for a physical response is something that a high-schooler cannot understand or read. “
Chbosky’s 1999 coming-of-age novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” follows 15-year-old Charlie Kelmeckis and his struggles with mental health. His story unfolds through letters he writes to an unknown recipient, exploring themes of friendship, love and repressed trauma.
The book was adapted into a 2012 film starring Logan Lerman as Charlie and Emma Watson (from the “Harry Potter” films) as Sam, Charlie’s romantic interest.
In a 2013 Q&A with the National Coalition Against Censorship, Chbosky said “Perks” has been banned so many times that he’s “lost count.”
“For many kids, the book helped end a sense of isolation,” he said. “Charlie’s struggles, and his friends’ struggles, speak directly to those experiences.”
He added that book banning makes him “sad.”
“You publish a book, in part, to end the silence about certain issues,” Chbosky said. “I know what the book has meant to certain kids because I’ve been getting letters from them for well over a decade. So every time this happens, I just think about that one kid in the community who could really use the book.”
The state released its initial list of banned titles in August 2024, in accordance with a law passed by the Utah Legislature that year. That law went into effect in July 2024.
The law requires that 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 three new titles were officially banned Monday after the Davis, Tooele and Washington County school districts removed the titles.
State officials typically do not cite the details of a book’s content when placing it on the banned list.