Seven more titles come off Utah school shelves, as the challenge to the removal law moves forward

Seven books must come off Canyons and Alpine school district library shelves after Utah added them to its statewide removal list on Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Draper Herald reported 1. Canyons is the district that serves Draper, where Corner Canyon High School is its building 5; the Herald reported that both Canyons and Alpine serve Draper families and that neither had issued a public statement about the batch 1.

The Herald named the newly banned titles: Sarah J. Maas's "House of Earth and Blood," Ellen Hopkins's "Perfect" and "Identical," Jesse Andrews's "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl," Kerri Maniscalco's "Kingdom of the Cursed," Jennifer Armentrout's "Storm and Fury" and V.E. Schwab's "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" 1. None had been available to elementary students 1. The Herald reported the batch was the largest single addition since the law took effect in July 2024 and put the statewide total at 44 titles, a count it attributed to The Salt Lake Tribune 1.

How a title becomes a statewide removal is set out in the federal court record. The Utah Legislature enacted the book removal law in 2022 and amended it in 2024, barring "sensitive materials" from the school setting; "objective sensitive material" is defined as instructional material that is pornographic or indecent, including material harmful to minors or depicting illicit sex 2. The statewide ban takes effect once three school districts classify a book as objective sensitive material, and the book must then be removed from every local education agency in the state, according to the order 2. The State Board of Education's rule R277-628 provides that after Aug. 5, 2024 the superintendent notifies a district's designee and the board within 10 school days of the statewide removal threshold being met, and compiles an annual report of challenges at the district and state level 3.

That law, Utah Code section 53G-10-103, is the subject of a federal challenge. The suit is Caged Bird Legacy, LLC, et al. v. Derek Brown, case 2:26-cv-00010-RJS-CMR in the United States District Court for the District of Utah, and on Sept. 15 District Judge Robert J. Shelby issued a memorandum decision and order granting in part and denying in part the state's motion to dismiss 2. The order denies dismissal of the claims seeking prospective injunctive relief against the individual defendants and dismisses all other claims against them, and denies the motion to dismiss the author plaintiffs 2.

The plaintiffs are two Utah public high school students, suing through their parents, and five authors and rights-holders: Kurt Vonnegut, LLC, Caged Bird Legacy, LLC, and the authors Elana K. Arnold, Ellen Hopkins and Amy Reed 2. The order records that the statewide ban has removed at least one published book by each author plaintiff from Utah public schools, and finds that the intended audience for each is young adults and that "the book ban has damaged the Plaintiff Authors financially, reputationally, and professionally," which is "sufficient to establish standing" 2.

The ruling did not decide whether the law violates the First Amendment, and settles only whether the plaintiffs can bring the challenge, the Herald reported 4. The Herald also reported that Canyons is not a defendant but that the removed titles come off its shelves by law, and that no date has been announced for the next phase of the case, which would address whether the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments 4.

Sources: 1 Draper Herald, "Utah bans seven more books from Draper-area school shelves," Oct. 2, 2026 — https://draperherald.com/articles/utah-bans-seven-more-books-from-draper-area-school-shelves-muqf3gsg 2 U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Caged Bird Legacy, LLC, et al. v. Derek Brown, Case 2:26-cv-00010-RJS-CMR, Document 126, memorandum decision and order, filed Sept. 15, 2026 — https://courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/caged-bird-vs-brown-order.pdf 3 Utah State Board of Education, administrative rule R277-628, "Sensitive Materials" — https://schools.utah.gov/adminrules/R277-628 4 Draper Herald, "Utah book-ban lawsuit proceeds, keeps titles off Canyons shelves," Sept. 17, 2026 — https://draperherald.com/articles/utah-book-ban-lawsuit-proceeds-keeps-titles-off-canyons-shelves-mu5j2vsf 5 South Valley Ledger, "Corner Canyon field house opens, finishing a Canyons District building round," Oct. 2026 — https://southvalleyledger.com/articles/corner-canyon-field-house-opens-finishing-a-canyons-district-building--9b4225/