Sandpiper by Ellen Wittlinger

• ISBN: 978-0689868023
• Plot summary: Sandpiper and her friends figure out how to make boys like them, only they figured out how to keep them, but Sandpiper can't seem to find one she wants to be with for longer than a few days. That is, until she meets the Walker. While she tags along on his walks, Piper divulges more about herself than she's ever wanted to tell any guy she's ever been with. The Walker was able to defend Piper from her ex the first time he tried to intimidate her, but ever since then, his threats have become more and more person, to the point where he hurts her dog and her sister. Eventually, her ex's threats get more and more serious, and Piper has no choice but to let her family know just how she knows this boy and why he insists on making her life hell.
• Critical evaluation: The story of how Sandpiper came to attract the boys in her grade is interesting. One of her friends suggests that if they start giving blow jobs, boys will be interested in them. Of course, when they do attract the boys they want, they scorn Sandpiper for not settling down with just one boy. I appreciated the passage in which Sandpiper says why she likes doing it, or rather, how she likes to the way men treat her before they get physical with her. To think of a sex act as empowering for a young person can make some uncomfortable, but the fact of the matter is that they are engaging in theses behaviors and I don't think they should feel bad about it. Discussing sex in YA novels is taboo enough, but I can't remember ever reading an instance of oral sex in any of the novels I read as a teen. Of course the entire novel is not about Sandpiper's ability to perform oral sex, but it is the thing that endears many young men to her only to be discarded later by her when they become boring.
• Reader's annotation: Sandpiper found teenage boys interested for all of a couple days. She never knew they'd stick around.
• About the author: Ellen Wittlinger became a young adult author after reading some of the YA books in her job as a children's librarian.
• Genre: Fiction
• Curriculum ties, if any: None
• Booktalking ideas:
• Has anyone ever disrespected your siblings to you?
• Reading level/interest age: 15+
• Challenge issues: Sexuality
• Why was this item included? I chose this novel based on recommendations and it's listing on the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults.