By The Time you Read This I'll Be Dead Book Review

Relationships and words all lead up to a decision Daelyn Rice wanted to make. The choice between life or death rest in her hands. At a very young age these two choices circled throughout her mind everyday. In the book By the Time you Read This I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters, a difficult decision is being made by a young girl because of bullying. My name is Milahn Shurelds and chose this book to read for an independent reading project.This book has received a couple of awards : ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nomination in 2011, ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adults Readers 2011, ALA Popular Paperback for YA: Sticks and Stones category, and Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best List 2010. 

Ten... The number that started it all. Bullying... A main theme. Decision... Some had to be made. Death... A longing. Life... A choice. www.through-the-light.com...A website used to countdown to the date of determination. In Daelyn Rices’ daily life these were everyday words. At the age of ten Daelyn began her first attempt of death. The number one reason being bullying.  With many attempts of death Daelyn Rice is hoping to get it right this time. She visits a website, www.through-the-light.com. After setting up an account she now has twenty-three days left until her Date of Determination(DOD). Death seems to be the only option but there is one thing that may change her mind, a boy. Santana is her only hope to live. Daelyn feels as though it’s too late to start letting people into her life. By the Time you Read This I’ll Be Dead is a book about bullying. Pushing people to the edge could result in death. Bullying is not good and it needs to be stop. 

My favorite character is Daelyn. You may be wondering why a girl who believes death is the only option is my favorite. She is my favorite because she is strong. She went through many years of bullying even though throughout those years she attempted many trials of death. She hid bullying from her parents for a long time. Taking on a big emotional issue was really hard. After reading this book you should get a sense of what it is like to be bullied. Take a leap and walk in the shoes of Daelyn Rice. Begin to fully understand what bullying is. Also what some people go through if you haven’t already gone through it yourself. 

Relating to this story was very challenging. I couldn’t seem to relate. Death isn’t in my vocabulary. I know someday it will come but I enjoy life. Life is something I treasure. I see life as a gift. A gift given to me to live to the fullest. Life is too short for unnecessary drama. I want to do all that I can do. I have never been bullied. I’m not sure what excludes me from the type of people picked on.  I think bullying is a sign of jealousy. I agree that bullying isn’t right and it needs to be stopped.

As you may or may not know I am not a big fan of reading. I DON’T like it. Reading this book was a challenge but once I was done I felt as though I had accomplished something. When I finished the book I didn’t find reading so bad. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was well written and the plot was interesting. This book took me into a whole new world. Even though the book was fiction I learned a lot. If I could change anything about the book I would have a variety of people going through the same thing as Daelyn. Have the book be from different point of views and situations.There weren’t many weaknesses to this book. The major weakness would be the transitions. Sometimes the transitions between past and present were confusing. 

I would recommend this book to people because it shows awareness to a very huge issue in a numerous amount of lives of kids these days. Julie Anne Roberts takes you on a journey that is powerful and important. I don’t recommend this book to people who aren’t in Daelyns’ situation. I say this because some of the content isn’t good for people who are deciding between life and death. Ways of death are given in the story. This story wasn’t written for people to get ideas of death, it was written to let people know the results of bullying. Also why bullying isn’t right and why it needs to stop. 



Comments