FuturePotus – I know that in my case, I didn’t read the book davka because I was told not to. I read if for the same reason the mountain climber climbed the mountain – because it was there. I was a good kid who always did what I was told. I read the book despite the fact that I was told not to, and not because of it.
I agree with you that in some situations, making something into an issue makes it into an issue. But I don’t think that applies here for several reasons. For one thing, if something is really bad, then the “making it into an issue” argument is irrelevant. It is an issue; you are not making it into one.
Public libraries can be really bad places. I know that the Lakewood public library is full of shmutz and it is almost impossible to avoid. It is definitely not a place for a Frum kid.
You can’t compare supermarkets to libraries for several reasons. For one thing, in a supermarket, you don’t have to buy the treif food, but in a library it may be impossible to avoid seeing things that are inappropriate. For another thing, in a supermarket, you have to buy the food in order to eat it, but in a library, you can just take a book off the shelf and read it.
For another, as it’s already been said, most Frum kids don’t have a yetzer hara to eat treif, but many have a yetzer hara to read. This is not because it was made into an issue, but because for someone who likes reading, it is a natural yetzer hara (as I know too well).