Information about My Sister's Kepper

Information about My Sister’s Keeper introductionJodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper(2004) explores the medical, legal, ethical, and moral issues related to long-term illness—a complicated subject in the contemporary world. In the book, thirteen-year-old Anna sues her parents for the right to control her body. Conceived as a sibling donor match for her sister Kate, who suffers from leukemia, Anna has undergone numerous procedures to provide Kate with whatever she needs to fight her disease, but when Anna learns she is to give up a kidney for her sister, Anna hires a lawyer and takes her parents to court.Picoult's idea for My Sister's Keeper came while doing research for her novel Second Glance (2003), when she was intrigued by information about eugenics in the United States in the 1930s. Supporters of eugenics wanted to improve the human race by allowing only those with desirable genetic characteristics to reproduce. Picoult also learned about stem cell research and linked the ideas, wondering if stem cell research could become human genome research. The related issues are complex and emotional.A news story about a mother in Colorado who conceived a child so that the baby could donate cord blood to save the life of his elder sister also captured Picoult's imagination. The author took the idea to the next level and added more invasive procedures to increase the story's drama and ethical dilemma.Picoult's personal experience also shaped the plot. Her middle child, Jake, had ten surgeries in three years beginning when he was six years old. Picoult's son suffered from cholesteatoma—a benign but potentially fatal tumor that can grow into the brain—in both ears. Because of this experience, Picoult understands the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child and also how needs of a sick child are demanding for the entire family.My Sister's Keeper won a 2005 Alex Award from the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust, and Booklist named it as one of the top ten adult books for teenagers. Reviewing the novel in Booklist, Kristine Huntley concluded, "This is a beautiful, heartbreaking, controversial, and honest book."Author BiographyJodi Picoult was born on May 19, 1966, in Long Island, New York, the daughter of Myron and Jane Picoult. She had a happy childhood growing up with her younger brother, Jonathan, in Nesconset, New York, on Long Island. Picoult began writing stories when she was young and continued the practice throughout her childhood. She also put her love of books to work with a job as a library page.While a student at Princeton University, Picoult studied creative writing with such luminaries as Mary Morris and Robert Stone. During her student years, she published two short stories in Seventeen magazine. After earning her bachelor's degree in English in 1987, Picoult held several jobs. She worked for a brokerage firm on Wall Street as a technical writer, as a copywriter at a two-person advertising agency, and.....Plot summary from wikipediaAnna Fitzgerald's older sister, Kate, suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Anna was conceived in order to harvest blood from her umbilical cord in order to use in treatments to help save Kate's life. Although the treatment was initially successful, Kate relapsed; ever since, Anna, the only compatible family member, has been used as a donor for any other bodily substance needed to treat Kate, who continues to swing between remission and relapse as she grows up.Anna is usually willing to donate whatever Kate needs, but when she is 13, she is told that she will have to donate one of her kidneys. The surgery required for both Kate and Anna would be major; it is not guaranteed to work, as the stress of the operation may well kill Kate anyway; and the loss of a kidney could have a serious impact on Anna's life. Anna petitions for medical emancipation with the help of lawyer Campbell Alexander, so that she will be able to make her own decisions regarding her medical treatment and the donation of her kidney.Anna's mother, Sara, is an ex-lawyer and decides to represent herself and her husband in the lawsuit. Over the course of the novel, she tries on several occasions to make Anna drop the lawsuit. Anna refuses to do so, but the resulting tension between her and her mother result in her moving out of the house to live with her father Brian in the fire station where he works. This is done on the advice of Julia Romano, the court-appointed guardian ad litem whose job it is to decide what would be best for Anna. Julia was once romantically involved with Campbell when they went to school together, but Campbell broke her heart when he left her. It is eventually revealed he left her because he discovered he had epilepsy and thought she deserved better. They get back together at the end of the book.Meanwhile, Anna's brother Jesse, who has spent most of his life being ignored in favor of ill Kate or donor Anna, spends most of his time setting fire to abandoned buildings with home-made explosives, using the knowledge that his fire-fighter father gave him to make the fires bigger and fiercer, and doing drugs. He is aself-confessed juvenile delinquent and pyromaniac, and the only time throughout the book that his parents pay him any attention is when Brian discovers that it is Jesse who has been setting the fires. Brian forgives him, and by the end of the book, he has reformed and graduated from the police academy.During the trial, it is revealed that Kate asked Anna to sue for emancipation because she did not want Anna to have to transplant, and because she believes that she will die anyway. The judge rules in Anna's favor, and grants Campbell medical power of attorney. However, as Campbell drives her home after the trial, their car is hit by an oncoming truck. Brian retrieves Anna, who is unconscious, and suffers an injury to the head, and Campbell, who suffers an injury to the arm, from the wreckage of the crushed car and rushes them to hospital. However, after some time, the doctor informs them that Anna is brain-dead, that the machines keeping her alive may as well be switched off, and asks them if they have considered organ donation. Campbell steps in, and declares that he has the power of attorney, and "there is a girl upstairs who needs that kidney." Kate is prepped for surgery, and Anna's kidney is successfully transplanted. Kate survives the surgery and goes into remission. Most of Anna's usable organs are removed for transplants in the future. Campbell and Julia get married, Kate stays in remission for at least 6 years, while Anna dies for her sister's life.Critical receptionIn review for The Washington Post, Katherine Arie described some of the characters as unconvincing, such as Brian, who is "too good to be true", Jesse, "a poster child for self-destructive behavior", and Kate, who is "as weak and wispy on the page as she's supposed to be in life", but ultimately called the book "a thrill to read".[5]In 2008 the American Library Association (ALA) and the office for Intellectual Freedom named My Sister's Keeper the 7th most frequently challenged book in the US. Schools and Libraries attempted to ban the book for the following reasons: Sexism, Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs, Suicide, Violence. ALA Website List of top 10 most challenged book bans for 2009∙Anna: Anna is thirteen years old, born to be a perfect donor match[1] for her older sister Kate. She has undergone many surgeries during her life so she can help cure her sister Kate. When she finds out that she has to donate a kidney to Kate, Anna sues her parents for the rights to her own body, which would result in Kate's death.[2] She dies at the end of the book after being ina car accident.∙Sara: Mother of Anna, Kate and Jesse. Is very protective of Kate and Anna and Jesse fade away from her parental bounds. Before Kate was diagnosed with APL, Sara used to be a lawyer. She represents herself during the trial.∙Brian: Brian is the father of Anna, Kate and Jesse. He is a fire fighter and loves astronomy. One of his major hobbies is looking at stars in the sky while lying on the fire house roof. After Anna died, it was said that he became an alcoholic but recovered.∙Kate: Sister of Anna and Jesse. When Kate was 2, she was diagnosed with APL. She was cured but had another very serious relapse when she was 5.Her kidneys are failing and her parents wanted Anna to give her a kidney but Kate told her not to, as she wanted to die. At the end of the book, Anna's kidney is given to Kate and she goes into remission for 6 years. She goes to college and becomes a dance teacher.∙Taylor: Kate's boyfriend. Taylor has AML and is 2 years older than Kate.They met at the hospital and went to a hospital dance together. Sadly, Taylor died just as he and Kate were getting serious.∙Jesse: Brother of Anna and Kate. He is off the rails, drinking alcohol and doing drugs. Throughout the book, he sets fires to buildings and makes them spread fast due to the knowledge his father gave him. Brian finds out that it was Jesse starting the fires but forgives him. After Anna died, he became a police officer and got an award for a drug bust.∙Campbell: A successful lawyer Anna hired for her case. Campbell is living with epilepsy and has a service dog, Judge, although he lies about hispurpose throughout the book. Broke Julia Romano's heart in high school and got married at the end of the book.∙Judge: Campbell's service dog whose use is unknown throughout much of the novel.∙Suzanne (Zanne): Sister of Sara Fitzgerald, aunt of Kate, Anna, and Jesse, Zanne is wealthy and always wants to babysit the children when Kate has a relapse. She is known as a support for Sara throughout the novel. When Brian and Sara were having problems paying for Kate's medical treatment, Zanne offered to help but Brian refused to accept her money.∙Dr. Chance: Kate's oncologist and close friend of the family, Dr. Chance speaks in the trial and doesn't know if the kidney transplant will be beneficial to Kate.∙Julia Romano: In the book to advise Anna while she is going through the trial, and decide what the best for Anna and tell the judge. But she is also romantically involved with Campbell, and heartbroken by him when they were younger. They get married at the end of the book.。