Mod 2 Before I Die

Downham, Jenny. Before I Die. Oxford: David Fickling Books, 2007. ISBN 9780385751834

Summary:

Before I Die is the story of sixteen year-old Tessa. She has leukemia. Together with her friend, Zoey, she makes a list of things she wants to do before she dies.

Excerpt:

“Do it with me” I say.

She looks startled. “Do what?”

“It’s on bits of paper everywhere. I’ll write it out properly and you can make me do it.”

“Make you do what? The thing you wrote on the wall?”

“Other stuff too, but the boy thing first. You’ve had sex loads of times, Zoey, and I’ve never even been kissed.”

I watch my words fall into her. They land somewhere very deep.

“Not loads of times,” she says eventually.

“Please, Zoey. Even if I beg you not to, even if I’m horrible to you, you must make me do it. I’ve got a whole long list of things I want to do.”

When she says, “OK,” she makes it sound easy, as if I only asked her to visit me more often.

“You mean it?”

“I said so, didn’t I?”

I wonder if she knows what she’s letting herself in for.

Analysis:

Before I Die is a gripping story of a young girl who wants to experience life before she dies of a terminal disease. Downham gives her the spunk and determination of any teenager as she sneaks out at night, dresses too scantily for her dad, throws temper tantrums, and wants to experience love, sex, and underage drinking. Tessa has atypical parents as it is her mother that leaves and her father must deal with the day to day of a terminally ill child. The writing is fast paced as Tessa races to finish everything on her list, until the end of the book. The reader experiences the gaps in time as Tessa fades from consciousness with spacing of the paragraphs and Tessa’s incoherency in rambling paragraphs without punctuation. A moving story of love and loss.

Reviews:

School Library Journal:

Told from Tessa's viewpoint, even in her last moments, the story draws listeners into a gut-wrenching range of real emotions.

Booklist November 2007:

The clear, beautiful prose brings out all the elemental emotions especially Tessa's anger and frustration at being stuck in bed while others get on with their lives and the passionate present-tense narrative will draw readers deeply into story and make them wonder, What if it was me?

Awards:

WINNER 2007 - Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year
WINNER 2007 - Booklist Books for Youth Editors' Choice
WINNER 2007 - Book Sense Children's Pick List
WINNER 2007 - Kirkus Reviews Editor Choice Award
WINNER 2007 - Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author
WINNER 2008 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top 10

Connections:

To read an interview with the author visit http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-downham-jenny.asp

To learn more about leukemia visit http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/hm_lls

To help someone complete their list visit http://www.wish.org/

If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:

10 things to do before I die: a novel by Daniel Ehrenhaft

If I should die before I wake by Lurlene McDaniel

2Do before I die: the do-it-yourself guide to the rest of your life by Michael Ogden.

Cover photo:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9780385751834