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Bonfires of the vanities — not the 1990 movie or the Tom Wolfe novel — were fueled by perceived sinful objects, such as books, and ignited under the rule of Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), a strict Dominican priest who ruled Florence, Italy, with a clenched, anti-Renaissance fist.

The embers of the 15th-century flames smolder. Calls to challenge, ban and burn books continue.

To keep a new spark from igniting and to celebrate our passion for reading, library groups and bookselling organizations sponsor Banned Books Week, which begins Saturday and continues through Oct. 6.

It's surprising in a time of so much access to information that yanking books from shelves is still going on. Yet the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom reported 546 challenges, which are formal, written complaints, in 2006. "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, topped the list.

Even though millions of muggles, adults and children love the Harry Potter series, it is the most challenged book series of this century, the association reports. Reports of burning — yes, literally burning — the J.K. Rowling books were reported as recently as 2001 in New Mexico.

Last week a group of parents at a Southwest Side Chicago public school called on officials to ban "The Chocolate War" by the late Robert Cormier. The book is required reading for seventh-grade students in the Chicago school district.

The young-adult novel, which was made into a movie of the same name in 1988, has frequently been on the American Library Association's most challenged books list since the book was released in 1974.

The Chicago parents said they want the book pulled from the curriculum because it has references to sex and violence, the Chicago Tribune reported last week.

Intellectual freedom, the freedom to read what we choose, is fundamental to our democracy. As we said last year on these pages, "The right to decide what we read is implicit to our First Amendment rights. To deny or restrict access to books impugns our freedom to learn and think, and limits our freedom to information and ideas, which is a profound violation of our constitutional rights."

Limiting information by banning and controlling books and the media is an effective method for autocratic systems to control their citizens.

Intellectual freedom, the right to explore topics, free thought and access to information lay the foundation for productive discussion and conversation.

However, we appreciate parents' rights to shield their children from concepts, language and ideas that they find offensive, but oppose outright banning of books and literature.

We hope that the Chicago parents, school district and teachers can work out a compromise that enables "The Chocolate War" to remain available to those who choose to read it.

We hope you'll celebrate our nation's intellectual freedom and our right to read. "Bonfire of the Vanities" should involve only reading the book or viewing the film.