Before I Die (2007)

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*This intensely moving story is now available in paperback. *Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, and drugs with excruciating side effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is Sex. Released from the constraints of “normal” life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, and her new boyfriend, are all painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out. A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year A Booklist Editors’ Choice A Book Sense Children’s Pick A Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice A Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults Review Review, NYTBR, October 14, 2007: "This may sound too depressing for words, but it is only one indication of the inspired originality of Before I Die , by Jenny Downham, that the reader can finish its last pages feeling thrillingly alive ... I don't care how old you are. This book will not leave you." —John Burnham Schwartz Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007 "Lucid language makes a painful journey bearable, beautiful and transcendent." Starred Review, Publisher's Weekly, August 6, 2007 "The eloquent dying teen can seem a staple of the YA novel, but this British debut completely breaks the mold. Downham holds nothing back in her wrenching and exceptionally vibrant story." Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 21, 2007 "Bound For Glory: This fall, five young authors deliver breakout books packed with razor-sharp writing." Review, Entertainment Weekly, September 28, 2007 "In luminous prose that rings completely true, Downham earns every tear she wrings from her readers. I trust there will be many of them—many readers, and of course, many tears. A- " From the Hardcover edition. From the Back Cover It's really going to happen. They said it would, but this is quicker than anyone thought. Everyone has to die. We all know it. With only a few months of life left, sixteen-year-old Tessa knows it better than most. She's made a list though - ten things she wants to do before she dies. Number one is sex. Starting tonight. But getting what you want isn't easy. And getting what youwant doesn't always give you what you need. And sometimes the most unexpected things become important. Uplifting, life-affirming, joyous - this extraordinary novel celebrates what it is to be alive by confronting what it's really like to die.