Zac and Mia by A. J. Betts

Read this story of Zac and Mia – it will challenge your perspective on what is important.  From an  

Australian writer who works in a children’s hospital, the novel focuses on two 17-year-old cancer patients who find each other in the adult ward. Zac has leukemia which requires a bone marrow treatment and a lengthy isolation period and Mia has osteosarcoma, a malignant bone tumor. Over the course of several months, they experience both joy and desperation as they battle cancer, drift apart and reunite.

Betts begins the novel by writing from Zac’s perspective; then alternates viewpoints and ends with Mia telling the story. I felt as though the reader could almost see these teens mature, especially Mia as she learns to accept her situation and deal with understandable anger.  

Both Zac and Mia use humor and evasion (“it’s just a sports injury”) to limit emotionally painful discussions of their situation, yet readers are able to see inside their heads.  My favorite quote? Mia’s thoughts as she gazes at the evening skyline in Perth: “People and birds turn to silhouettes. The sky is changing, throbbing with dusk.  I know these colors well. Puckered pinks and flaming reds, hot and soft to touch.  Scarlet smearing the horizon.  A symphony of infection and pain.  Then slowly, heavily, a violet descends like a giant bruise until it’s all the same.  There’s a peace that comes with the dark. I exhale with relief.  Without the rage of the day, there’s nothing left to feel.”

I wish I already had a hard copy (it’s on order!) so that I could immediately begin to hand it to students, including the many fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. Zac and Mia confronts the fear and isolation associated with cancer while exploring the value of friendship and inner resilience. Don’t miss it.