Ellen Hopkins is one of the most banned authors in Utah schools. She talks about why students should have access to her stories about real traumas and tough situations.
Ellen Hopkins’ books have been removed at least 35 times in districts across the state. She talks with The Salt Lake Tribune about what that means and why she feels students should have access to her titles.It’s not exactly a title of honor: being one of the most banned authors in one of the most conservative states in the nation.Hopkins said that’s the point of her books: to explore hard truths and tell about real, traumatic experiences that kids go through.
Hopkins recently spoke with The Tribune about her books, the recent movement to challenge titles like hers and why it matters that students have access to all kinds of stories. This Q&A with her has been lightly edited for length and clarity.This current wave has been going on for awhile, but when it first started, it surprised me with what it represented. It used to be that one parent finds a book they don’t like. That’s what it’s supposed to be.
Another thing people don’t realize is that a lot of my references come from this Christian evangelical space. If you read my books, every single one of them has a godhead reference. I was raised Lutheran. And I raised my kids in the Lutheran church.You can scrub ugliness out of maybe some kids’ lives, but not out of most. And for the kids that are going through it, they need to know that they’re represented, that somebody knows that this is what they’re going through.
My daughter was a straight-A kid. She wanted so badly to go to the Art Institute of Seattle. Then she met the wrong guy, and he got her into drugs. Now, her dreams are gone. Those dreams are gone. She struggled with that addiction for more than 25 years. … It affected everyone who cared about her. My next young adult book coming out next year is about twins separated by the foster care system. One ends up on the streets; one ends up in juvenile detention.
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