News

New info for ways to live forever (December 5, 2008)

Prizes

Winner

• Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2008
• Glen Dimplex New Writer of the Year 2008
• Glen Dimplex New Writer’s Award - Children’s Category 2008

Shortlisted

• Brilliant Book Award 2009
• Calderdale Book of the Year 2009
• Warwickshire Secondary Schools Book Award 2009

Longlisted

• Carnegie Medal 2009
• Manchester Book Award 2009
• Wirral Paperback of the Year 2009
• Gateshead Children’s Book Award 2008/9

Ways to Live Forever is also available in a teacher’s edition from Longman.

Detailed teacher’s notes are available here.

And there’s a brief introduction to teaching the book here

I’m delighted that children are reading this book in schools - I think as a society we fail our children by not talking to them about death and that by doing so we turn it into something frightening and mysterious. I would urge teachers, however, to be very aware of the histories of children in their class before they start studying it. A child coping with bereavement or a sick family member may find this a helpful book to read in their own time, but being forced to study a text like this in a school setting could be the last thing they want or need.