Synopses & Reviews
Derek really liked me -- at least, he acted that way. I liked him too at first, but it lasted only a few weeks before he was getting on my nerves. And once I break it off with a guy, I don't even want to see him anymore. For a while I feel like I don't want to see any guys anymore, but that doesn't last long either.Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale has a bad reputation. At first she just wanted a boyfriend, but now she's had a dozen and doesn't know what she saw in any of them. When one of Sandy's exes, Derek, starts harassing her, a mysterious boy called the Walker comes to her aid. Walker spends his days wandering through town. When Sandy begins to walk with him, he evades her questions, unwilling to reveal anything about himself. She's interested but wary -- why is Walker so secretive? As Derek's aggressions turn dangerous, Sandy and Walker are forced to confront the pain of their pasts, which each of them would rather forget.
Ellen Wittlinger's powerful story of two people struggling to overcome personal demons exemplifies why School Library Journal said that her writing "conveys a fundamental truth" and that she "evokes caring in readers and gives them plenty to think about."
Review
"Wittlinger's (Heart on My Sleeve) intense novel introduces Sandpiper, who learned in the eighth grade that performing oral sex is a 'foolproof method' to having a boyfriend. Now a sophomore, she finds that 'after a week or so with a guy... I couldn't stand him anymore.' During one such breakup, she meets the mysterious Walker (so named because he walks all over town, 'like he had someplace to go but wasn't in a big hurry to get there') and befriends him. On their walks, he avoids discussing his past, but she tells him about her reputation and Derek, the spurned guy who threatens her. Walker tells her that she's 'worth' something and even gives her a new name: Piper. But as her mother's wedding plans accelerate, so does the harassment (Derek throws rocks at her cat and cuts her younger sister, making it look like an accident). Finally, a vicious attack forces Piper and Walker to face their dark pasts. The friendship never feels completely realistic, and Piper's poems, which run between chapters, sap the pacing, but readers will still be enticed into Piper's world. Wittlinger carefully demonstrates how Piper's behavior is unhealthy ('Oral sex is real sex!... you don't do it with everyone you meet,' her father shouts), while making it clear that she is not to blame for Derek's frightening behavior. Piper's relationship with her father is particularly well drawn. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Synopsis
With honesty and humor, the critically acclaimed author of "Hard Love" tells the story of two outcasts--teenage girl Sandpiper Hollow Ragsdale, who meets a guy who calls himself the Walker--whose unlikely friendship gives them each a reason to keep trying.