Teen won't return explicit book to library

BROOKWOOD -- Lysa Harding, 15, couldn't believe the sexually charged prose of the novel she checked out from the library at Brookwood High School. Her grandmother was offended, too.
Now they're refusing to return the book, "Sandpiper" by Ellen Wittlinger, saying other teens shouldn't be exposed to it.

The school library won't allow the student to check out another book until "Sandpiper" is returned. She also faces late fees or a $25 charge to replace the book if it's not returned by Friday.
Lysa said she won't comply, and her grandmother, Pam Pennington, has filed a complaint with the high school.

The novel tells the story of a 15-year-old girl named Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale who is on a "sexual power trip and engages in random hookups," according to a review by the School Library Journal.

The book has been favorably reviewed and is intended for older teens, said Jane Smith, library media specialist for the Tuscaloosa County School system.
"It's a cautionary tale for teenagers that oral sex is sex," Smith told The Tuscaloosa News. "You serve a wide range of people in a library, and you have to have something for all of them."

"This book is sick," said Pennington. "I'm 50 years 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."
Lysa, who checked the book out at random last week for a book report, said it goes into too much graphic detail for high school students.

"I honestly believe that it should not be at school, because at my school they teach abstinence and no sex before marriage, but then all the book is teaching is how to do those things," she said.

A committee will be formed at Brookwood High to determine whether Pennington's complaints are valid, and whether the book should be pulled from the shelves. Pennington must make her complaints to that committee, and Smith said the dispute could wind up before the county school board.