Utah has done it again: the 6th book banned in a 1 month period. This time it’s Looking for Alaska by John Green. This 2006 young-adult coming of age novel covers the topics of grief, the search for meaning, hope, and first love. It has won multiple awards, including the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz’s award for best young adult novel and was selected for the 2006 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. 

We now have 30 days to ask members of the Utah State Board of Education to vote on the ban at their next meeting. If no board member brings the book up for a vote, then the statewide removal stands. The first hurdle is to just get the board to call for a vote. Send an email today asking your board member to do just that. 

We’ve provided some text for the email, but you should feel free to personalize it however you wish. A source has told us that the emails with the most impact have personal anecdotes about how the book affected you. If this is a book that you really connected with, please include that in your email.