'Rosie and Nona are sisters. Yapas. They are also best friends. It doesn’t matter that Rosie is white and Nona is Aboriginal: their family connections tie them together for life.'
'The girls are inseparable until Nona moves away at the age of nine. By the time she returns, they’re in Year 10 and things have changed. Rosie prefers to hang out in the nearby mining town, where she goes to school with the glamorous Selena and her gorgeous older brother, Nick.'
'When a political announcement highlights divisions between the Aboriginal community and the mining town, Rosie is put in a difficult position: will she have to choose between her first love and her oldest friend?' (Source: Publishers website)
Also available to download from publisher's website :
Australian Curriculum questions on Nona & Me by Clare Atkins.
Clare Atkins discusses writing Aboriginal characters and the challenges of setting a book in an Aboriginal community.
Clare Atkins reflects on the origins of Nona & Me. (https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/nona-and-me
'According to the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society’s (ARCSHS) 2013 National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health, over 34% of the Year 10-12 students surveyed reported having had sexual intercourse, while 69% have experienced some form of sexual activity.
'When sex is evidently a part of adolescent lives, it would be remiss not to include it in the literature written for them.
'So how should sex in young adult literature be depicted?'
'According to the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society’s (ARCSHS) 2013 National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health, over 34% of the Year 10-12 students surveyed reported having had sexual intercourse, while 69% have experienced some form of sexual activity.
'When sex is evidently a part of adolescent lives, it would be remiss not to include it in the literature written for them.
'So how should sex in young adult literature be depicted?'