Ways to Live Forever
Sam loves facts. He wants to know about UFOs and horror movies and airships and ghosts and scientists, and how it feels to kiss a girl.
And because he has leukaemia he wants to know the facts about dying. Sam needs answers to the questions nobody will answer.
My name is Sam. I am eleven years old. I collect stories and fantastic facts. By the time you read this, I will probably be dead.
True Facts About Ways to Live Forever
1.
I really did run up down escalators when I was writing this book. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages and I thought, if Sam can do it, so can I. I did it in the same place Sam does – at the Cornmill Centre in Darlington.
2.
The chapter Visits is based on something my mother did after I was diagnosed with diabetes as a child. It was supposed to be a funny scene – but it didn’t turn out that way when I wrote it.
3.
I deleted over 20,000 words while writing this book (the finished novel is around 32,000 words long). Some of the scenes I deleted include a list of famous last words, a description of how a dead body decomposes and a scene where Sam and Felix try and break their world record by dropping water bombs on Sam’s dad.
4.
There are a few real names and places in this book. Auntie Nicola, Auntie Sarah and Auntie Carolyn are named after friends of mine, as is Raoul, the airship pilot. Stanley Rhode (the airship captain) gets his name from Stanley Road, the street I lived on at university. My friends and I always meant to put Stanley Rhode into one of our essays but never did, so I put him in the book instead. High Strawberry – on Sam’s list of favourite things – is also a real place. We used to stay there when I was a child.
5.
The first words I wrote when I began this book were:
List No. 1 – Five Important Facts About Me
1. My name is David Oliver Robinson.
2. I am eleven years, two months and seven days old.
3. I have one sister. Her name is Katherine Anne Robinson and she is nine years old.
4. I have acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
5. By the time you read this, I will already be dead.
Reviews of Ways to Live Forever
“impressed by Sally Nicholls’ sensitive handling of terminal illness in Ways to Live Forever”
“Sympathetic, touching, and surprisingly funny…”
“Sally Nicholls has precisely captured the contents of an 11-year-old boy’s head in all its humorous, list-making splendour.”
May 29, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
I love your Book
Im from switzerland 🙂
May 15, 2011 @ 1:30 pm
Ways to live forever is so good
and touching 🙁 FAB book
May 9, 2011 @ 5:25 pm
hi,
I loved the book, you’re a great writer, I’m here representing the fans of Brazil, and myself =)
you are very talented and will go far.
There is a book that speaks of death, but of life.
May 4, 2011 @ 8:14 am
Hi!
I’m from Spain. I just wanted to say this was the first book I bought and read in English and I found it awesome. I have just finished reading it for the third time and now I’m going to do a university presentation about it. Good luck with your other books and just thank you for making me read novels in english.
May 1, 2011 @ 3:32 am
I love this book. It is touching, funny and sad all at the same time. It’s my Favorite book now!!!
April 18, 2011 @ 5:30 pm
Me and my class have read this book in school it is the best book we have ever read!!!!!!!!
March 7, 2011 @ 10:18 pm
Salut Sally!
Je viens du Canada et j’ai lu votre livre : <>. Je l’ai beaucoup aimé. Quand j’ai lu les premières page, j’ai pensé que ça allait être triste, mais ça m’a permis de réaliser qu’on doit vivre notre vie comme si on allait mourrir demain.
La vie est trop courte! 🙁
March 2, 2011 @ 7:01 pm
Hello, i am from Germany and just finshed “Ways to live forever” yesterday evening. It’s a real good Book and honstly i was crying at the end. This book is so awsome and the Story aboout Sam is so intresting that I have to write a Comment here. I’ve read a lot of Books but none of them was this special for me. It makes that my Inside was shaking and I can’t even hold back the tears. I hope to read more of you.
x Inês
February 28, 2011 @ 8:06 pm
The book is…honestly,I don’t know.I don’t have any idea because I haven’t read it yet. I read a book called ‘Before I die’ month ago and I cried 11 times on it. The girl was 16 and was dying from cancer.I don’t know if the book is based on a real story..I truly hope it wasn’t and a friend of mine told me that if I enjoyed that book so much I would definately read this one. I’m willing so much to read it but I already know it’s great. As I read books like this I realise how short life is and how we don’t have so much time sitting around on our ones and how we have to find something which or who can stay with us and how we really have to find love and pleasure. So yeah..life’s short and it sucks for tiny humans like this.It isn’t fair..:/
I have a cousin.She had cancer on the age of 3 and now..she’s 5 now she still has it and I don’t think if anyone can do anything about it.
In my opinion tiny humans does not have to suffer in this kind of way.Noone have to suffer in this kind of way.
Live’s too short anyways.
February 23, 2011 @ 11:39 am
bonjour, je m’appelle lucie et j’ai 12 ans, j’ai lu votre livre Ways to live for ever en francais et j’ai adoréé!!!!
C’était vraiment bien même si c’est triste mais j’aime beaucoup les livres tristes et vraiment vous êtes super forte.
Une admiratrice dévouée
:):):););)/)