Like many films and musicals, “Wicked” started out as a book – “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire.
While the musical continues to be a hit with audiences on Broadway and the recent film franchise set new records in Hollywood; not everyone is pleased.
Utah – the home of the Mormon Church – has BANNED the book!
The Utah State Board of Education has been on a book banning spree with 22 books in the process of getting the heave-ho from the book shelf.
On January 5, “Wicked”, “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult, and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky were all officially banned from the book shelves in the schools of Utah.
Also on the list include:
“What Girls are Made Of” by Elana K. Arnold
“Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur
“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen
In response to the ban, the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court saying, “by disregarding the literary value of age-appropriate books and removing them, Utah is trampling on the protections guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
In 2022 and amended in 2024, the Sensitive Materials Law gives schools and libraries free rein to remove books at the “whim of the state legislature”.
Books that have already been banned include:
“Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
Kurt Vonnegut’s daughter Nanette Vonnegut spoke on the ban saying, “in 1975, my father Kurt Vonnegut’s book ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ was among eleven books removed from library shelves in a New York school district, leading to a landmark victory in the U.S. Supreme Court case Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico. He regarded libraries and librarians as our most vital public institutions because ‘words are the most powerful tools we have.’ Now, more than half a century later, Utah’s lawmakers’ determination to ban books like ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ denies innumerable young people in Utah the freedom to read, think, and grow; it is antithetical to what my father fought for during World War II and focused much of his literary legacy on addressing.”
ACLU staff attorney Tom Ford added, “the right to read and the right to free speech are inseparable. The First Amendment protects our freedom to read, learn, and share ideas free from unconstitutional censorship. This law censors constitutionally protected books, silences authors, and denies students access to ideas, in violation of the First Amendment rights of students and authors alike, and must be struck down.”
One of the students listed as a plaintiff in the suit spoke saying, “for many Utah students, the first place we recognize our own lives and identities is in a library book. When those books disappear, students notice immediately. It sends a clear message about whose stories matter and whose do not. Book bans do more harm than simply removing stories. Empty shelves cost us understanding and connection, turning schools from places of learning into systems of control. Censorship does not just make ideas disappear, but also makes schools more confusing and dangerous because of its chilling effect on our right to learn.”