The Real Savannah Banana


The Real Savannah Banana
 

The real Savannah Banana was a student at the local elementary school where I volunteered.  The first time I met her, she introduced herself to me as Savannah Banana, or Savi for short.

Savi was the captain of a book-reading team, The Dream Wanderers, in the program that I coordinated at her school; Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB).

OBOB was/is a reading incentive program for children. Each year the kids read 16 great middle grade books and compete in teams with battles to see which team can remember the most details about the books. Savi loved reading and was a great participant.

The same year I met Savi, I challenged myself to write a compelling first paragraph for a middle grade mystery. I borrowed her name for my eleven-year-old protagonist. That paragraph grew into my book, Savannah Banana Saves the World (by me, Sami P. Scripter!) It's a a middle grade mystery/adventure.

The real Savi and my Savi are similar in some ways. They are both smart and independent. They both have a good since of humor. However, my Savi is not fashioned after the real young woman. My Savi is a work of fiction.

For me, one of the fun things about writing is that I can weave anything I want into a story; bits and pieces of my own life and those of others. The dog character, Christy, in Savannah Banana Saves the World, is an example of that. When I was six years old and my family lived in Newfoundland, I was given a cocker spaniel puppy for Christmas. I loved that dog and even ate a bite of  his dog food, just as Savi does in the book. When my family moved off of the island, we could not bring Christy with us. I have missed him ever since. But now, thanks to my book, he is wagging his stumpy tail and sitting beside his loyal young person friend, just like he did so many years ago with me.


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For several years before the pandemic stopped in-classroom education, I volunteered at my neighborhood elementary school coordinating a reading program; the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB). Each year, sixteen middle grade books were selected for kids in the program to read. The books were the very best and on a wide variety of subjects and genres, including new books, classics, fiction and non-fiction. The Reading Champions huddle to come up with the correct answer   The program really motivated the children to read. The kids formed their own teams and chose their own team name. The goal was, that between all of the member of a team, all 16 books would be read. The kids really loved the battles. The competition was fierce. I found it all very rewarding, and so fun to get to know the children, the rascals as well as the star students.   These four awesome women called themselves, The Battling Nerds Because I read all of the books each year, a by-product of the whole t...
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