Ramona Blue

Some insight into the culture and geography of the Mississippi Gulf Coast region and how it was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina. Placenta previa explained.

Ramona's a good model for hard work and family loyalty. She's got a paper route and often works double shifts at a restaurant to help support her family. She selflessly helps her older sister, even spending her own hard-earned money on things her sister needs or wants. She learns that she can handle whatever life throws at her, to take things as they come, and that it's OK if she doesn't have everything figured out all the time. Freddie is a great role model for patient, understanding support and especially for actively and repeatedly seeking consent for sex.

Same-sex and opposite-sex kissing, caressing, and making out with some brief but non-graphic descriptions. A boy and a girl have sex; she watches him put on a condom; he repeatedly asks for consent, but the sex is not described. Teens talk about how you know if you're gay or straight and, without being explicit, talk about what defines having sex for gay and straight people. A teen's erection is alluded to a couple of times. Some sexual innuendo and double entendres. A joke about FaceTime sex. Tampons mentioned. Having to deal with periods that are "one step below a crime scene." An unmarried 20-year-old gets pregnant and wants to keep the baby; there’s mention that if she had wanted an abortion it would have been very difficult to get in Mississippi. Mentions of soft-core porn on TV, masturbation, and buying morning-after pills. Dancing called "grinding babymakers together." "Camel toe" mentioned a few times.

Some junk food and soda brands, Clive Cussler paperback, Lisa Frank pencil case, Fireball whiskey, FaceTime, the YMCA, Dumpster.