‘Sandpiper’ to Remain on Library Shelves at Tuscaloosa School

Ellen Wittliner’s Sandpiper (S & S, 2005) will stay on the shelves at Brookwood High School in Tuscaloosa, AL, following a school board decision to uphold a committee’s recommendation.

“Our board upheld the First Amendment of the United States, and I am proud of that,” says Jane Smith, the county’s library media coordinator.

Fifteen-year-old sophomore Lysa Harding randomly checked out Sandpiper last August 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.

A school committee conducted a formal review and found the book, which deals with oral sex, appropriate for the library. The board now plans to review its policy on how books are chosen and try to keep books that "contain vulgar, offensive and inappropriate language" from school library shelves.

Sandy Miesse, the school librarian at the center of the book challenge, said she was willing to move the controversial novel to an area reserved for mature readers, but she didn’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 Miesse. “I have no objection to moving it to a section for older readers, but I object to removing it.”