'Now a kid might get in trouble': This state takes book ban to new level

In addition to banning over a dozen books from school libraries and classrooms six months ago, the Utah State Board of Education is now prohibiting students from bringing their own copies of those books into the building, The Washington Post reports.

"These titles should not be brought to school or used for classroom activities, assignments, or personal reading while on school property," the State Board's guidelines reads, according to the public radio station KUER.

Authors including Judy Blume, Margaret Atwood and Sarah J. Maas' books are included on the banned list, which Let Utah Read co-founder Peter Bromberg told the Post "could grow quickly" in the coming weeks.

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"Now a kid might get in trouble or be disciplined for bringing a book to school that has not been adjudicated by a judge or a court of law, or even their own school district board that’s been elected by their own community," Bromberg told the newspaper.

Asron Terr, director of public advocacy at FIRE, a free-expression organization, argues that banning students from bringing their own copies is much worse than banning the books from school libraries.

"We've seen plenty of disputes over schools removing books from school libraries and whether that amounts to a ban. But this is different. This is an escalation," he told the Post. "This goes beyond the school deciding what to include in its own curriculum or library. The state is banning students from personally possessing books that they have a First Amendment right to access and read on their own time."

Terr added, "For the same reason that public schools can’t ban a student from wearing a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War, they can’t ban a student from, say, bringing a book in their backpack that is antiwar or otherwise expresses ideas that make people uncomfortable or that some people think are inappropriate."

READ MORE: Most book bans target children’s lit featuring diverse characters and authors of color

The Washington Post's full report is available at this link (subscription required).