Silvera, Adam.
THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END
New York : Harper Teen, 2017
IL YA
ISBN 978-0-06-245779-0

(3 booktalks)

Booktalk #1

Don’t tell yourself that they don’t; they do. Read this book anyway. If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you want to do? Who would you want to spend your time with? Set in an alternate present, every individual is notified by “Death-Cast” at midnight of the day they are going to die. They don’t know what time, just what day. Some people choose to spend time with family and friends; others use an app called Last Friend to spend their remaining time with another person who is going to die that day. Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio both receive their call, and both have reasons for wanting to spend their “End Day” with someone new. It may end up being their last day of living, but they are going to make it count. Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2018-2019

Booktalk #2

Mateo freezes when the phone rings a little past midnight. It can't be. He is only 18 and hasn't even lived yet. Rufus is beating up Peck when his phone rings a bit later. He tries to ignore the call but knows he can't. Death Cast has called them both. In a future world, Death Cast decides who lives and dies. When you get your call, you are told you will die within the next 24 hours. You don't know when or how but it will happen.  Rufus and his friends at the orphanage decide to hold his funeral so he can go out laughing with friends. But Peck has filed a complaint and called the police about the beating. Now Rufus is alone and on the run. Not a great way to spend your last day. Mateo usually stays in the apartment playing video games and is afraid to go outside. Both boys decide they don't want to spend their last day alone so reach out to Last Friend. This is a site where you can find someone to spend your day with. The two boys with nothing in common spend the day together finding out about each other. And about themselves. One thing we know. They both die in the end.

Booktalk #3

GONG. GONG. GONG. GONG. GONG.

“The alert, a distinctive and endless gong, like a church bell one block away, is blasting from my phone on the other side of the room. I’m freaking out already, a hundred thoughts immediately drowning out everything around me. . . It’s crazy. One minute ago I was reading yesterday’s blog entry from CountDowners . . . and now I’m going to die.”

This phone call is how 18-year-old Mateo Torrez learns that he has less than 24 hours to live. In a near-future New York City, the Death-Cast service alerts people on the day they will die. They don’t know exactly when or how they will die, but they know there is no way to escape death that day.

Less than an hour later, 17-year-old Rufus Emeterio receives his phone call from Death-Cast.

Because of tragic losses earlier in their lives, both Rufus and Mateo find themselves alone, and they use the Last Friend app to seek an End Day connection that leads them to each other. Hesitant at first, the boys find adventures together and eventually grow closer than either of them expected.