Positive Peer Pressure (Review of DRUGS MAKE YOU UN-SMARTER | Savanna Peterson & Jill Vanderwood

TITLE: Drugs Make You Un-Smarter
AUTHOR: Savanna Peterson & Jill Vanderwood
PUBLISHER: Motivational Press
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2010
PAGES: 242
GRADE LEVEL(S): 7-9
RELEVANT CURRICULA: Health, Science, English
CLASSROOM USES: Summer/Independent reading, Literature Circles

I was drawn to this book by an email describing a girl born in a stress-induced labor, to a mother who struggled to provide for her children and a father who was perpetually in and out of jail for fraud and drug-related crimes. That girl is the author of this book. 15 year-old Savanna Peterson sat down with her grandmother, Jill Vanderwood, to tell her story and, more importantly, educate her peers.

Drugs Make You Un-Smarter is a book that should live in many classroom and school libraries, somewhere students can easily find it—and feel they discovered it on their own. It was written by a 15 year-old girl, and it reads as such. As such, this isn’t a book to be used as a model for fine writing; it’s a book to be used for truth telling.

Savanna Peterson’s story is compelling, written in a voice that will resonate for any teenager. Readers may or may not agree with her firm stance against drugs and alcohol, but they won’t be able to help feeling uplifted by Savanna’s ability to turn her own unfortunate family life into something productive and true.

Drugs Make You Un-Smarter blends Savanna’s story with the research and writing from other young people, as well as doctors and other health care professionals who work with addicts and youth. It’s just the right blend of personal narrative and research project. Put it in your school. Someone there needs it.