‘Sandpiper’: To Remove or Not to Remove?
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Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 9/18/2007 2:00:00 PM
The school librarian at the center of the book challenge of Ellen Wittliner’s Sandpiper (S & S, 2005) at Brookwood High School in Tuscaloosa, AL, says she’s willing to move the controversial novel to an area reserved for mature readers, but she doesn’t believe in removing it from her library shelves.
“It is a book for more mature readers, but some [freshman and sophomore] students may need to read it,” says Media Specialist Sandy Miesse. “I have no objection to moving it to a section for older readers, but I object to removing it.”
Fifteen-year-old sophomore Lysa Harding randomly checked out Sandpiper on August 31 for a classroom book report, but when she found it too sexually explicit, she showed it to her grandmother, Pam Pennington. Together, they decided not to return the book, which was due September 14. The school is asking Harding to pay $25 to replace the book or face late fees.
“The book is sick,” Pennington told the Tuscaloosa News. “I’m a 50-year-old, and I’ve raised 11 sets of kids and been through many a library, and I’ve never seen a book like this in a school library before.”
Miesse says she chose the book based on the Young Adult Library Services Association’s Best Books for Young Adults list. A review in School Library Journal says the novel is about Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale, a teenager who comes from a family with complex issues, and is on a “sexual power trip, engaging in brief hookups for fellatio.”
“I understand [Harding and Pennington’s] concerns,” Miesse says. “I would not give this book to a young child, but oral sex is an issue that’s talked about even as young as elementary school.”
School administrators, including Jane Smith, the county’s library media coordinator, have defended the book, saying it’s a cautionary tale for teens that shows that oral sex is sex; Smith adds that the book has received favorable reviews.
Pennington filed a “Request for Review of Instructional Materials” form last Friday. A review committee composed of Miesse, a school principal, a teacher, and a parent now has 30 days to read the book and decide whether it should remain in the library, Miesse says. If Pennington disagrees with the decision, she may appeal to the county board.
