Control your own destiny
Nicknamed Bab Sav because she is less than five feet tall, Savanna was a tenth-grader from Utah at the time of writing. Her favorite thing to do is ghost hunting with friends. Her favorite band is Sleeping Giant. Her favorite movies are The Sandlot and Stand by Me. Savanna’s favorite food is chicken taco salad.
Savanna Q&A
Favorite Bands
Tamerlane, Comeback Kid, Section 8, Brand New and Lily Allen
Favorite Foods
Pretzels, Skittles, Wendy’s chicken nuggets, chicken taco salad
Favorite Activities
Dancing, driving, writing, and accustic guitar
Where Do You Live?
In Utah
Favorite places to visit
The Oregon beaches and Ohio
Where do you hope to travel one day?
Hawaii, Philly, California, and Savannah Georgia
Will drugs and alcohol get you where you want to be in life?
No! It stops you from all of your dreams.
What makes you happy?
Getting noticed by a guy, getting a tattoo or piercing, when I get my hair done, or when I go shopping.
What makes you sad?
When I get ignored, or when I like someone and they stop talking to me.
Who has influenced your life the most?
Grandma
What are your favorite movies?
Stand by me, Now and Then, My Girl, Goonies, The Sandlot, Paranormal Activity 1&2
What are your favorite books?
Hunger Games, Charmed and Harry Potter
Favorite TV Shows
Ghost Adventures, I Love Lucy and the History Channel
Favorite Classes at School?
History and Driver’s Ed
Will you graduate from high school?
Hopefully! My attendance needs to improve.
Do you want to write other books?
Yeah!
What is it like to be a teenage author?
I like the interviews on the radio and the newspaper. It’s not that great in some ways, because when people talk crap on the book and on me, it makes me depressed and have second thoughts about the whole thing.
Savanna’s Family’s Pattern of Addiction
Savanna’s Mom
- Natural father is an alcoholic
- Adopted and raised by a stepfather from age eight
- Raised in a drug/alcohol/tobacco free home from age three
- Married young and didn’t finish high school
- Controlled drinking, but sometimes drinks too much
- Sometimes smokes weed
Savanna’s Dad
- Adopted as an infant, raised in a drug-and alcohol-free home
- Drinking and drug abuse, and stealing to support his habit landed him in prison at the age of nineteen
- He was in prison for most of Savanna’s life
Savanna’s Older Brother
- Raised in a single-parent home with weekend visits with his dad
- Mom drinks and smokes weed
- Started smoking weed when he was fourteen
- Started partying when his mom was at work
- Spent time in DT
- Went to a drug program for a short time at age sixteen, no change in behavior
- Dropped out of school at age seventeen
- Slowed down the use of drugs, still smokes weed
Savanna’s Aunt Jennifer
- Natural father is an alcoholic
- Adopted by her stepfather at age seven
- Raised in a drug/alcohol and tobacco-free home from age two
- Married young, her husband became an addict
- Became addicted to meth
- Became a widow with two children at age twenty-two
- Remarried at age twenty-five
- She has been drug, alcohol, and tobacco-free for about thirteen years
Savanna’s Uncle Jason
- Married young, had two children
- Became addicted to cocaine
- Sold marijuanafrom his home
- Arrested in front of his children, for selling drugs,
- Died on a drug delivery when he was twenty-four years old
Savanna’s Cousins
Dillon
- Father died when he was four
- Raised in a drug-free home since the age of six
- Raised by his mother and stepfather
- Experimented with alcohol, weed and harder drugs
- Caught with weed at school and sent to detention
- Has been in DT several times
- Sent to two drug programs, including a wilderness program
- Now working his drug program, trying to live drug free, and hopes to give up tobacco
Katie
- Only two when her father died on a drug deal
- Raised in a drug-free home since the age of five
- Raised by her mother and stepfather
- Fooled around with drugs and smoked weed
- Has been caught with weed at school
Savanna’s Maternal Grandparents
- Grandma Vanderwood doesn’t have a problem with drugs or alcohol
- She married an alcoholic.
- Had three children with her alcoholic husband
- After the divorce, the children were raised in a drug-free home
- Jill remarried when Savanna’s mother was seven.
- Savanna’s grandpa doesn’t drink, but his father was an alcoholic.
- Jill’s first husband lives with Savanna’s family. He still drinks.
Savanna’s Paternal Grandparents
- Neither drinks or smokes
- Two sons who have been in prison for drugs
- Grandmother’s father was an alcoholic
