Your bookshelf: growing up

Ways to Live forever by Sally Nicholls (Marion Lloyd/Scholastic, £7.99 PB)

Suitable for: boys; girls; older readers

Find a girl called Eva and marry her. Then, even if you can’t live forever, at least you can live for Eva!’

Sam has leukaemia. During his last months, he writes a diary, asking the most difficult questions about life and death, balancing for himself the possibilities of science and religion. Encouraged by his family and his friend, Felix, he gets to do most of the things he wants to before he dies, including running up a down escalator, kissing a girl and flying in an airship.