'The last person Zac expects in the room next door is a girl like Mia, angry and feisty with questionable taste in music. In the real world he wouldn't--couldn't--be friends with her.
'But in hospital different rules apply, and what begins as a knock on the wall leads to a note--then a friendship neither of them sees coming.
'You need courage to be in hospital; different courage to be back in the real world.
In one of these worlds Zac needs Mia. And in the other Mia needs Zac.
'Or maybe they both need each other, always.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Zac and Mia
( dir. Jason Perlman
et. al. )agent
United States of America (USA)
:
AwesomenessTV
,
2017-2019
10895778
2017
series - publisher
film/TV
young adult
'"Zac and Mia", based on the novel by A.J. Betts, about 2 teens battling cancer in the same hospital. In the real world, Zac and Mia would have pretty much nothing in common, but in the hospital, where they're the only 2 teens on the ward, they develop an unbreakable bond. If cancer is the variable that changed everything, the only constant is their ever-deepening need for one another.' (Production summary)
Unit Suitable For
AC: Year 10 (NSW Stage 5)
Themes
bravery, Compassion, death, disease, Empathy, friendship, hope, illness, isolation, loss, love, luck, popularity, trust
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication technology, Literacy, Personal and social
Zac & Mia was shortlisted for the Netherlands' prestigious Dioraphte Jongeren Literatour Prize in the Translated Work category and the Buxtehuder Bulle Award, Germany, 2014
A. J. Betts on ‘Zac and Mia’
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
2020
23454637
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'A. J. Betts' novel Zac and Mia won the 2012 Text Prize and the 2014 Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adults at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. Not only is the novel published in 14 countries, it was adapted for American television and will soon be available globally.
'Her other novels include Hive, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Awards and 2019 ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children, and its sequel Rogue. And believe it or not, she has a PhD on the topic of wonder in life and in reading.' (Production introduction)
'In 1994, Lucy Grealy published Autobiography of a Face (Grealy 2003: 3; First Perennial edition), her memoir about childhood cancer and the resulting facial disfigurement she endured for the rest of her life. Her intention in writing it, stated her friend and fellow writer Anne Patchett, was not to be an inspiration to others who had suffered terrible illness but to have produced something of literary merit (Patchett 2003: 230). Nonetheless, Autobiography of a Face was received with much acclaim not only for its lyricism, but also for the in-depth way it explored notions of identity and self within the illness experience (DasGupta 2007; Mojtabai 1994; Zbar 1995).' (Introduction)
'In the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s there was a flurry of what were called ‘single issue’ or ‘problem’ novels for teenagers. The books focused on problems or issues that frequently confronted teenagers, such as bullying, anorexia, child abuse, depression, suicide, unplanned pregnancies, struggles over friendships, puberty, divorce, and more. These were indeed matters faced by young people, and the rationale was that by reading about others in similar situations, teenagers would feel less alone and might also find ways of coping. ‘Reading novels dealing with social and personal problems is a safe way to bring these issues into focus and give adolescents a chance to talk about their own experiences or relate their own lives to what others have gone through’ (Diana Hodge, The Conversation, 13 June 2014). There is a whiff of bibliotherapy (books and reading as therapy) in this view which seems to undermine the notion of reading and evaluating books for their literary merit.' (Introduction)
'In 1994, Lucy Grealy published Autobiography of a Face (Grealy 2003: 3; First Perennial edition), her memoir about childhood cancer and the resulting facial disfigurement she endured for the rest of her life. Her intention in writing it, stated her friend and fellow writer Anne Patchett, was not to be an inspiration to others who had suffered terrible illness but to have produced something of literary merit (Patchett 2003: 230). Nonetheless, Autobiography of a Face was received with much acclaim not only for its lyricism, but also for the in-depth way it explored notions of identity and self within the illness experience (DasGupta 2007; Mojtabai 1994; Zbar 1995).' (Introduction)
