Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Add Before I Die to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Look Inside | Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

Before I Die

By Jenny Downham

By Jenny Downham

By Jenny Downham

By Jenny Downham

By Jenny Downham
Read by Charlotte Parry

By Jenny Downham
Read by Charlotte Parry

Best Seller
Paperback $14.00

May 26, 2009 | ISBN 9780385751834 | Young Adult

Ebook $8.99

Sep 25, 2008 | ISBN 9780375849374 | Young Adult

Audiobook Download $17.00

Sep 25, 2007 | 430 Minutes | Young Adult

All Formats
+
    Before I Die by Jenny Downham
    Paperback $14.00
    May 26, 2009 | ISBN 9780385751834

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (2) +
    • $14.00

      May 26, 2009 | ISBN 9780385751834 | Young Adult

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Sep 25, 2008 | ISBN 9780375849374 | Young Adult

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Sep 25, 2007 | ISBN 9780739362891 | Young Adult

      430 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Before I Die

    For the many readers who love The Fault in Our Stars, this is the story of a girl who is determined to live, love, and to write her own ending before her time is finally up.

    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 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

    The newly released feature film Now Is Good, starring Dakota Fanning, is based on Jenny Downham’s intensely moving novel.

    About Before I Die

    For the many readers who love The Fault in Our Stars, this is the story of a girl who is determined to live, love, and to write her own ending before her time is finally up.

    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 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

    The newly released feature film Now Is Good, starring Dakota Fanning, is based on Jenny Downham’s intensely moving novel.

    About Before I Die

    For the many readers who love The Fault in Our Stars, this is the story of a girl who is determined to live, love, and to write her own ending before her time is finally up.

    Tessa has just months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, 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, all are painfully crystallised in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time runs out.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

    Also by Jenny Downham

    You Against Me
    See all books by Jenny Downham

    Also by Jenny Downham

    You Against Me
    See all books by Jenny Downham

    Also by Jenny Downham

    You Against Me
    See all books by Jenny Downham

    About Jenny Downham

    A Conversation with Jenny Downham, author of You Against Me Before I Die, published in 2007, was a huge success. Was it difficult to write another novel following that?It’s very easy for a first time novelist to feel like an impostor,… More about Jenny Downham

    About Jenny Downham

    A Conversation with Jenny Downham, author of You Against Me Before I Die, published in 2007, was a huge success. Was it difficult to write another novel following that?It’s very easy for a first time novelist to feel like an impostor,… More about Jenny Downham

    About Jenny Downham

    A Conversation with Jenny Downham, author of You Against Me Before I Die, published in 2007, was a huge success. Was it difficult to write another novel following that?It’s very easy for a first time novelist to feel like an impostor,… More about Jenny Downham

    Product Details

    Category: Teen & Young Adult Fiction | Teen & Young Adult Social Issues

    Paperback | $14.00
    Published by Ember
    May 26, 2009 | 336 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | Young Adult | ISBN 9780385751834

    Category: Teen & Young Adult Fiction | Teen & Young Adult Social Issues

    Ebook | $8.99
    Published by David Fickling Books
    Sep 25, 2008 | 312 Pages | Young Adult | ISBN 9780375849374

    Category: Teen & Young Adult Fiction | Teen & Young Adult Social Issues | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $17.00
    Published by Listening Library
    Sep 25, 2007 | 430 Minutes | Young Adult | ISBN 9780739362891

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    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-"

    Awards

    ALA Best Books for Young Adults Top 10 WINNER

    Book Sense Children’s Pick List WINNER

    Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice WINNER

    Kirkus Reviews Editor Choice Award WINNER

    Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year WINNER

    Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author WINNER

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook