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|title=Before I Die

|author=Jenny Downham

|buy=Yes

|borrow=Yes

|pages=336

|publisher=David Fickling Books

}}

Tessa is just 16 years old. And she has just a few months to live. After four long years of treatment for leukaemia, she's finally reached the end of the road. Her illness is now terminal. All the doctors can do is maintain her as best they can and wait for the inevitable crisis. Tessa's father, who has given up work to take care of her, is busy trying to support Tessa's palliative care by researching diets and holistic therapies on the internet. He won't give up hope. Tessa though, with the shocking matter-of-factness of the young, has accepted that she is going to die soon. What Tessa hasn't accepted though, is that she must die in any way incomplete. So she makes a to-do list, full of everything she wants to experience before the dying of the light. And the first thing on it is casual sex.

Teenagers who like realistic books about difficult issues might also enjoy Suzanne Bugler's story of an abusive relationship in [[Meet Me at the Boathouse]]. Those who prefer hard subjects to come wrapped in black humour might like Anthony McGowan's [[Henry Tumour]], which deals with a boy and his talking brain tumour.

{{toptentext|list=Top Ten Love Stories For Teenagers}}

{{toptentext|list=Top Ten Children's Books About Weighty Subjects}}

{{amazontext|amazon=0385613466}}

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