Review of By The Time You Read This, I'll be Dead

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:50:52 GMT

By Elizabeth Horner

Julie Ann Peters writes a harrowing 200 page novel on bullying and sucide which leaves you weak in your seat but unable to stop reading. Peters story tells the tale of Daelyn a girl who has been obese for all of her life and has attempted suicide a string of times because of the severe bullying she has faced. The story begins with Daelyn attending school with a neck brace and being mute because of her last attempt. She has changed schools more times then she can count, and as with every other school she has attended she is bullied in a way that no human being should be. Teachers mock her, students trip her and do anything they can to make her feel worse. Everything changes though when Daelyn finds a website which supports suicide. Suddenly Daelyn has another plan for her suicide and this time she is determined to do it right. With 22 days to go till her day of "determination" she starts getting rid of everything she owns, but along the way meets Santana a boy who has cancer and has recently found out that he has a limited time to live. Suddenly Daelyn has to make a choice, stay and deal with countless horrors or leave forever but be able to comfort Santana through his last days. By the Time You Read This, I'll be Dead is a book that makes you look at what it feels like to be bullied all our life and how it feels to feel that death is the only way out. Its written with care and at every turn of the page you feel like you could cry at any moment. Everyone should read this book to understand how bulling can effect a person. While this book is not happy, it makes you think about what many of American teens think about everyday, and by the end it makes you want to help teens by helping them not commit suicide.