SEND AN EMAIL TO USBE BOARD MEMBERS
TELL THEM TO OVERTURN STATEWIDE BOOK BAN AND RESTORE LOCAL CONTROL
Unless the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) takes action soon, THREE more YA novels — Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins, Damsel by Elana K. Arnold, and Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian — will become the 15th, 16th, and 17th books permanently banned statewide in Utah.
All of these books are well-reviewed and award-winning titles. Tricks is a Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award winner and a Joan F. Kaywell Books Save Lives Award, Honoree. Damsel is a 2019 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book for excellence in YA literature. Like a Love Story is a Stonewall Honor Book and A Time Magazine “Best YA Book of All Time .”
Before statewide bans for any book go into effect USBE Board members have a 60 day window to vote to overturn the statewide ban, and restore local decision-making to the elected school board members who pass policies and make decisions transparently, in open public meetings, in dialogue with the parents and voters who elected them.
The deadlines for voting to overturn the statewide ban are:
Damsel - March 23
Like a Love Story - March 29
Tricks - May 5
The clock is ticking… Tell USBE Board members to vote at their next meeting to preserve local control of our schools so that the overreach of state politicians doesn’t force local communities to purge books from their school libraries.
