My Sister's Keeper

Grade: B+

By Jodi Picoult

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Pub. Date: February 2005
ISBN-13: 9780743454537

Anna Fitzgerald is an average every day 13 year old girl. She attends school, she plays hockey, and she likes boys. In addition to all of her activities, Anna has sued her parents for rights to her body. She was genetically engineered as a perfectly matched donor for her sister, Kate, 16, who suffers from a rare form of leukemia. Winning her law suit would mean that Anna would not have to donate a kidney to her sister who is experiencing renal failure.

Her parents have very different reactions to the law suit. Her mother, a lawyer, is desperate at all costs to save her eldest daughter, while her father, Brian, a firefighter, understands the inner anguish that Anna has been going through.

In the entire mix of family struggle, you are introduced to Anna's brother, Jesse, who deals with his sister's cancer through rebellions, Campbell, Anna's attorney who has a special needs dog with no outward disability, and Julia, a bleeding heart guardian ad litum.

The story has a provocative and exceptional insight into the struggles and bonds of families and the moral implications of law and medicine.

While a serious topic, Jodi Picoult has written in light hearted humour into the plot which makes the story not only flow from page to page, but which keeps you glued to the book.