Deadline

Crutcher, C. (2007). Deadline. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Eighteen-year-old Ben Wolf grew up in the tiny town of Trout, Idaho. He is an intelligent, small 123lb cross-country star at his high school. Cody, his brother and best friend, is the school’s star quarterback. Ben goes for his routine physical and discovers he is terminally ill. He has 1 year to live if he is lucky. At that moment, Ben decides to forgo treatment and live what time he has left as healthy as possible. He decides to keep the diagnosis to himself in an attempt to not burden his family with the stress of his fate. This diagnosis gives Ben a new found freedom to challenge himself in ways he would have been too afraid to do otherwise. He joins the school football team, charms his long-term crush Dallas Suzuki and challenges the educational system. His mission is gaining knowledge of the truths in the world, but he struggles with sharing his own truth. Through a friendship with the town drunk and ex-priest, Ben realizes he needs to tell everyone the news. He feels regret not trusting enough to lean on his loved ones for support, but he is still able to make amends before dying. This moving story will connect with any high school students struggling with an illness or who have experienced the loss of a classmate.