Students at Brighton, Olympus and Skyline high schools will lose access to Stephen King's "Different Seasons" after the Utah State Board of Education officially banned the 1982 novella collection from all public school libraries on Sunday, July 6.

The ban means librarians at Brighton High in Cottonwood Heights (Canyons School District) and Olympus and Skyline high schools in Holladay (Granite School District) must pull the book from shelves. The collection had been available to students in grades 7 through 12, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

"Different Seasons" contains four novellas, including "The Body," which became the 1986 film "Stand by Me," and "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption," adapted into the 1994 film "The Shawshank Redemption."

Eight days after the ban took effect, King responded on X on Monday, July 14:

@StephenKing: "They banned DIFFERENT SEASONS in Utah. Contains STAND BY ME and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, stories of friendship and courage. Readable by teens, too. What's wrong with these people?"

How the ban was triggered

Under H.B. 29, passed in early 2024, a book must be removed from every Utah public school if at least three school districts determine it contains "objective sensitive material," defined as pornographic or indecent content under Utah code. Two districts and five charter schools can also trigger a ban.

Four districts triggered this one: Davis, Jordan, Tooele County and Washington County. On its website, Davis School District cited three pages in the collection — pages 184, 251 and 252 — as containing descriptions of "genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal." According to IGN's reporting, those pages fall within the novella "Apt Pupil."

The addition brings Utah's statewide banned-book total to 36, according to ABC4 and the Salt Lake Tribune. The Cottonwood Heights-Holladay Times reported in March 2026 that the total then stood at 27, after four titles including Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" were added when Davis, Granite and Washington County school districts flagged them. Granite School District helped trigger those March removals but was not among the districts that triggered the "Different Seasons" ban.

"Different Seasons" is the second King title on the list. His 1998 novel "Bag of Bones" was added in February 2026.

Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, a former teacher, criticized H.B. 29 during legislative debate in 2024, calling it "the antithesis of local control." She said at the time that "just a couple of individuals can take away the rights of parents statewide to make choices that best fit their children's needs."

In January 2026, the ACLU of Utah filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of the estate of Kurt Vonnegut and several bestselling authors, arguing the bans are unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

What families should know

The full list of banned titles is available on the Utah State Board of Education's website. Under H.B. 29, the state board can vote to overturn a statewide ban, though no vote on "Different Seasons" has been scheduled as of July 15.