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.”
April 13, 2010 @ 1:50 am
This is by far the best book I’ve ever read. It was so touching and moving. I lived it I read it in one day.
April 8, 2010 @ 8:43 pm
is his name oliver or sam
April 7, 2010 @ 7:22 am
HEY SALLAY;YOUR BOOK WAS PERFECT IT MADE ME REMEMBER OF MY UNCLE WHO TOO DIED IN LEUKEMIA
March 31, 2010 @ 12:51 pm
hello.!
March 19, 2010 @ 3:07 am
I got this book from the library and I think it is one of the best books i’v ever read.IT REALLY MAKES YOU STOP AND THINK ABOUT HOW LUCKY YOU ARE…..if u have never read this book then read it as soon as posible.
March 4, 2010 @ 10:57 pm
Hey yall, I LOVE this book!!!!
February 24, 2010 @ 6:48 pm
Olá,eu chamo-me Débora e ando no 10ºano. Amanha vou apresentar ” O Menino Que Sonhava Chegar À Lua”, na disciplina de Português e sinceramente estou com um pouco de receio de desvalorizar esta grandiosa obra.Cada pagina, cada palavra…foi tudo tão sentido, tão unico, tão grande, que me prenderam á história de tal maneira que no final as lagrimas escorreram-me pelo rosto. Gosto mesmo muito da sua escrita, e sem querer desvalorizar outros livros que já li, este encontra-se num patamar bastante elevado das minhas perferencias. Também gosto muito de escrever, aliás, é um dos meus passatempos preferidos…a maneira como transpasso cada opinião, cada pensamento, cada sentimento cria em mim uma nova razão de encarar a vida…é como que todos os meus problemas estivessem apenas numa folha branca, sem qualqer valor… mas ao mesmo tempo a sua importância era tal que ao le-lo os problemas iam-se tornando mais pequenos e a solução era tão facil de descobrir…
Enfim, tudo isto para dizer que um dia tambem gostava de mostrar ao mundo um bocadinho de mim, tal como a senhora o fez. Obrigada por nunca ter desistido de lutar pela publicação deste livro, é sem dúvida uma mensagem fundamental para superarmos o mundo em que nos deparamos 🙂
February 24, 2010 @ 6:28 pm
Olá!
Eu chamo-me Débora e ando no 10º ano. Amanhã vou apresentar o livro: “O Menino Que Sonhava Chegar À Lua” por Sally Nicholls 🙂 e estou um pouco nervosa pois tenho medo de desvalorizar esta grandiosa obra.
Para mim foi sem dúvida o melhor livro que li até hoje porque todas as paginas contêm sentimentos unicos, vividos… demasiado importantes e realmente fascinasntes! Porque todas as dores, todos os sorrisos, todo o medo e toda a angustia…toda a coragem e alegria das pequenas personagens “Sam e Félix” foram tão verosineis que não consegui deixar de ler cada capitulo, como uma droga, que só me fazia ler e ler até encontrar o fim.
Gostaria imenso de poder ter a oportunidade de continuar a ler obras da sua autoria, muito obrigada porque este livro foi mesmo muito importante e guarda por detrás de cada palavra uma grande mensagem!
Parabéns, espero que todos os seus livros prendam cada pessoa ás suas histórias como me prendeu a mim 🙂
Débora Prata, Portugal.
February 12, 2010 @ 4:47 am
I just stared reading the book.It is so GREAT I can’t put it down. It has it sad times, happy times, and that’s what makes it so GREAT. Sally Nicholls is my favorite autor she is so intelligent,and I can can’t wait to read the next book.
February 4, 2010 @ 9:46 pm
Hey, Sally. When I read “Ways to live forever” last year, it really touched me. Really. I loved how he ran up and down escalators – I’ve always wanted to do that. Can’t wait to read your next books.