Complex and original. Doesn't shy away from anything, despite being young adult fiction.

Sandpiper likes the initial excitement of being with a new boy, of holding a physical power over them and being needed so much. But after awhile, she’s really not part of their picture, just someone who can give them a blow job. Derek, a boy she dumped, has begun to harrass her for not having real sex with him, a situation that becomes more dangerous when he threatens to involve Daisy, Sandpiper’s younger sister. At the same time Sandpiper meets Walker, a mysterious boy who’s seen walking all over town and who harbors the terrible guilt of running over and killing his nephew. Their friendship becomes a way of helping overcome their issues: his guilt, her self-esteem.

This book has recently been challenged for its content but this is a necessary read about self-esteem for all the girls out there who are like Sandpiper. There are no graphic sex scenes but Sandpiper speaks bluntly about being with her "boyfriends." ( )

Sandpiper is about a teenage girl, dealing with her new step-family-to-be, her difficulties talking to her father and her reputation for being promiscuous.

The first thing I noticed about Sandpiper was the writing - it has a strong, unique voice - and the second thing was Sandpiper's poetry. Each chapter ends with one of her poems - which reflect on what she's going through, and often retell (parody?) other poems. I loved Piper's poetry. It's convincing as the poetry of an almost-16 year old, without being terrible Teen Angst "I am alone and no one understands my pain" poems.

Sandpiper is full of real complications, and genuine emotions, and conclusions which are not reached easily. I realise these are nebulous qualities I'm struggling to define and describe, but as I read this, I thought, Yes, yes, this is what I want from contemporary YA! I love how important Piper's relationships with her family are to the story, and I love Piper's growing friendship with 'Walker', an enigmatic teenage boy who walks around town and who is even more messed up than Piper is.

(And as far as "potential love interests" go, enigmatic is much more interesting defining characteristic than cute, any day...)

The Love Song of Piper H. Ragsdale
(with apologies to T.S. Eliot)

Let us go then, you and I,
When the morning mist is our ally,
And leave our parents, dead, divorced,
Or endlessly depressed, behind us.
Let us go with the intent
Of disallowing accidental blows
To make us life's no-shows.
I will not ask, 'Do you?'
It matters only that I do.

In the room where doctors come and go,
Talking of scars and vertigo.
( )

Sometimes I forget what it was like being a teen and all that goes with it. I have learned to like reading YA books like this one, 'cause I have a 15 year old daughter and I really need to remember what it was like to be one. Thanks Erin for re-introducing me over the last year to some great YA fiction! ( )

I didn't really like this book. I thought almost everything about it, from the characters to the situations they found themselves in to the revelations, growth and changes in personality towards the end, was contrived and unconvincing. There wasn't much depth to any of the characters so I found it hard to like or care about any of them, the pace was way too slow (it seemed to get hung up on unimportant things in certain places), and the writing was mediocre, at best.

I'm also not sure why this book is considered "controversial." It's not like she went into any explicit detail about giving boys oral sex. She used some (not many, if I remember correctly) rather blunt terms in reference to it but that's about it. It was actually rather tame compared to some YA fic I've come across that discusses sex so maybe that's why I feel that way. *LOL* ( )