by challenged books, i think they mean books that are fighting legal challenges-- that have been banned by some school or locality.
as for burning books, by all means, burn any one of your book you want, but please don't think you* are better able to decide what i should or shouldn't be reading, and don't start burning my books.
*you being anyone who want to impose their values on me, not you personally!
I was raised in very conserative religious household. (age 13 or so, i read Pearl Buck's The Good Earth and thought it racy!-- the same Pearl Buck that was conserative enough for reader's digest.
but my parents never banned any book. they discouraged junk, ie, Valley of the Dolls, and encouraged literature ie, Portrait of Doren Grey, and were frightened by my intest in subjects like The Microbe Hunters (which they thought to be morbid), but they did not stop me from reading what ever i chose.
Some would have use wrap our children in cotton wool, and not have them exposed to people with other values, experience and religions.
Humans can be evil, or good, stupid or wise, hurtful or helpful, couragous or cowardly... and any one person can be all of these at different times in their lives. if we only allow children to know read about good, wise, helpful, couragous people, and fail to show them that even these characters have flaws we do them a huge disservice.
banning books that express ideas you don't like doesn't make the ideas go away. it just make them taboo to discuss.
Dicken's, in David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, takes on unwed motherhood, poor houses, child abuse and other issues. the details how we as a society deal with these issues have changed, but these issues are current. and unwed motherhood occures when woman have sex... and there is another taboo topic. Not discussing sex doen't mean kids don't engage it, it just means it can't be talked about-- and not talking about it, means no easy way to get information on birth control, (or even information on building self esteem, and chosing not to have sex, not because of an externally imposed religious taboo, but because a teen is making an informed choice!)
