Sandpiper [Paperback]

Ellen Wittlinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2007

"You shouldn't expect much of him. He's...he's damaged." Damaged. What a horrible word. Like a car after a wreck...It was how I'd been feeling myself. Slightly ruined, a big mess.

Lately there have been a lot of guys in Sandpiper's life. In the past year, she's gone through eight or nine different boyfriends -- if you can call them that. She knows the boys are only using her for one thing, but she is using them, too.

The Walker is different from the others. He is kind and gentle. Mysterious. And most of all, he is the first guy who doesn't want Sandy for all the usual reasons. In fact, she's not sure if he wants her for any reason.

But she knows she wants to be around him. He makes her feel safe, when all the other parts of her life -- like her family and friends -- just make her feel awful. And when one of Sandy's exes starts harassing her, the Walker may be the only person who can help Sandy confront her uneasy past -- and steady herself for a different future.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up -Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale, 15, is on a sexual power trip, engaging in brief hookups for fellatio. When Derek, one of several rejected boys, returns in a rage to torment Piper and her family, she finds an unlikely ally in Walker, a solitary young man of few words who habitually roams the roads of her Massachusetts town. Piper and Walker (whose real name, she finds out much later, is Aidan) awkwardly begin a platonic relationship of truth telling about their lives. Both are outsiders; she is estranged from her female friends, and he is grief stricken over the accidental killing of his nephew. Piper also has complex family issues-her mother is preoccupied with her fashionable upcoming wedding, and her father, with an active sex life and acknowledged discomfort over Piper's well-developed breasts, gives mixed paternal messages. Chapters in Piper's candid voice alternate with her expressions of lyrical poetry, sometimes penned in the style of famous poets. When Derek, a half-crazed and overdrawn antagonist, attempts to rape Piper, Aidan disables him and then drives Piper to the hospital, where it is clinically determined that she is a virgin. Copious tears and attempts to assign blame ensue, and Piper realizes what a jerk she has been. While heavy on message and mature in subject matter, the novel is notable for the bold look it takes at relationships and at the myth that oral sex is not really sex.-Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 8-12. Sandpiper, 16, is known as the slut who does blow jobs, so none of her former friends cares when a classmate starts harassing her ("You asked for this, you tramp"). Her behavior isn't her whole story anymore, but who can help her leave the history behind? At home everything is focused on her divorced, ex-hippy mom's joyful new marriage and the elaborate wedding rituals. Then Sandy meets and makes friends with a young man, "the Walker," who seems to go everywhere on foot. Why isn't he in school? Where is his family? Heading each chapter is a poem, often a take on a well-known writer ("I sing the body chaotic") that focuses Sandy's conflict, and her edgy, angry first-person narrative sets her anguish against the wedding fun. Tension builds as Sandy and the Walker form a tentative friendship, reveal their secrets, and then save each other. The Walker is a bit too wise at times, but, as in Hard Love (1999), Wittlinger takes on tough teen issues with candor, humanity, humor, and grace. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416936513
• ISBN-13: 978-1416936510
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing read for older teens, August 11, 2005

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sandpiper (Hardcover)

Seventeen-year-old Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale has a bad reputation. Even Sandpiper's younger sister Daisy knows that kids at the high school call her older sister a slut. Sandpiper has figured out that giving oral sex to guys can get her some much-needed attention and a sort of power. The only problem is that she doesn't even like the guys she "dates," and she's more than willing to dump them after a few days or weeks. That kind of approach doesn't fly with her most recent boyfriend, Derek, who thinks that Sandpiper owes him --- and his friends --- even more.

Sandpiper certainly can't talk to her parents about Derek's threats or about the reasons for her self-degrading sexual behavior. Her mom is getting remarried and can only think about plans for the upcoming lavish wedding. Her stepfather-to-be, Nathan, brings his daughter Rachel into town for the wedding. Rachel is everything Sandpiper isn't --- cute, petite, perky, the kind of girl who pleases parents and waits until marriage for sex. Sandpiper's father, Rags, has plenty of problems of his own --- he's a serial dater of younger women, and he doesn't know how to even look at Sandpiper now that she's developed breasts.

Then Sandpiper meets a mysterious loner simply called the Walker, because he walks incessantly around their small Massachusetts town, refusing to ride in cars even in the pouring rain. She doesn't know anything about Walker's past, not even his real name (at first); all she knows is that he offers her platonic friendship without any sexual demands. When Derek starts to act on his threats, Walker and Sandpiper must come clean about their pasts so that they can help each other and find a new, more genuine kind of relationship.

Sandpiper's own narration of her story alternates with her autobiographical poetry, often written in the style of famous poems ("The Love Song of Piper H. Ragsdale," for example). Surprisingly, the novel doesn't offer Piper's poetic gifts as healthier opportunities for her to increase her own self-worth, instead focusing on family and genuine romantic relationships as the best solutions. Both the characters of Derek and Walker are taken to extremes; Derek is a one-dimensional thug, and Walker is a little too wise and philosophical for his years. Piper herself, though, is a complex, sympathetic (if not always entirely likeable) character.

Ellen Wittlinger's novels for teens don't shy away from tough subjects. In SANDPIPER Wittlinger explores the current widespread belief that oral sex is not "real sex." The novel's subject matter and its weighty tone make it appropriate for older teens.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked how it was a cautionary tale about teen sex without being too preachy., November 19, 2005

By 

Bibliophile "Fitzpatrick" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sandpiper (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this story. I liked how it was a cautionary tale about teen sex without being too preachy. I identified with the characters and liked how dimensional they were especially the ones I least expected like Daisy, Rachel and Edie. I wanted to know more about Derek's craziness he was a little too dimensional. One of my favorite aspects of this book was Piper's use of poetry and how she mimicked famous styles. I liked that Piper wrote poetry. One problem with this book though, it felt like too much was going on, with Aidan, the wedding, the issues with friends, parents, Piper's own sexuality, Rachel's, Daisy's, there was a lot going on in such a small book. It felt at times over dramatized and then in key moments not dramatic enough. I like this book but.....

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing., September 30, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Sandpiper (Hardcover)

I absolutely loved this book! I signed it out from the library and finished it before I went to sleep the same night! It was great. Ellen Wittlinger is one of my favorite authors, and this is her best yet.