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Utah bans Stephen King collection 'Different Seasons' from public schools

booksJul 15, 20262081

The Utah state board of education banned Stephen King’s 1982 novella collection Different Seasons from all public school libraries and classrooms after Davis, Jordan, Tooele and Washington school districts removed the book and the board invoked state law on 6 July. Different Seasons contains four novellas, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption; Apt Pupil; The Body; and The Breathing Method, three of which were adapted into films including Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption. The board said the collection met the Utah code threshold for “objective sensitive material,” a statutory category that defines instructional material as pornographic, indecent, or harmful to minors and specifically references fondling or other erotic touching. Under Utah law a book is removed statewide if at least three school districts or two districts plus five charter schools find it contains objective sensitive material. The state board maintains a running list of banned titles; as of 15 July that list included 35 titles, among them The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The removal comes amid an ongoing legal challenge: in January the ACLU of Utah sued state officials on behalf of the estate of Kurt Vonnegut and several bestselling authors, arguing the book bans violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments and saying the state is trampling constitutional protections. The ban adds Different Seasons to the roster of works that have been targeted in Utah’s recent book-removal actions and immediately restricts access for students in grades seven through 12 where the collection had previously been available.

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