Sam Oliver McQueen is an 11-year-old boy with cancer. When his best friend Felix dies, he doesn't know what to do because he always looked up to him and his bad boystyle. Sam is puzzled by the sadness and writes in his book that everyone should have been happy and making jokes and how Felix should have worn his favorite top. Having said, that he told in his book he wanted to make sure no one would do that at his funeral. A couple of weeks later, the doctors realize the medication isn't working as well and Sam makes the decision to stop all medication; Sam was sick and tired of taking things that never worked on him so he gave up Sam finishes his list of "Things to do" and about a month later he has a dream: all his family are all sleeping together… then he wakes up and sees his dads face. His dad says "I love you", but Sam drifts back asleep. Sam dies in his sleep; but he has given his parents a form to fill in about his death so he could finish his book. The last comment is made by his father, who says, "Sam died quietly in his sleep. He was in no pain. The book was made into a film during 2010.
Translations
At launch, Ways to Live Forever was translated into Dutch and published using a different title. The Dutch title Als je dit leest, ben ik dood is adapted from one of the book's opening lines. It is also translated to Portuguese and Indonesian, with the Portuguese title being O Menino que Sonhava Chegar à Lua, the Brazilian title of Como Viver Eternamente, the Indonesian title of Setelah Aku Pergi, the French title of Quand vous lirez ce livre..., the Italian title "Volevo vivere per sempre" and the German title of Wie man unsterblich wird.
Adaptation
It was adapted into film and was directed by Gustavo Ron which released on October 23, 2012 theatrically worldwide. It stars Robbie Kay, Alex Etel, Ben Chaplin, and Emilia Fox. The film received a positive review by the critics. The Germanradio drama adaption stars Kai Hogenacker and Patrick Mölleken. For their performance they were awarded with the Deutscher Hörbuchpreis 2010 as its youngest recipients. The jury of the Deutscher Hörbuchpreis explains their decision as follows: Furthermore they were honored with the 1st Place on the hr2-Hörbuchbestenliste, the Kinder- und Jugendhörspielpreis by the MDR Radio Council, the title CD of the Month by the Institut für angewandte Kindermedienforschung/Stiftung Zuhören, the Auditorix Hörbuch-Siegel 2009, as well as with a placement on the März-Bestenliste, and an awarding with the Vierteljahrespreis and a nomination for the Jahrespreis by the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
