One Book - 2006

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MY SISTER'S KEEPER New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness. Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.

	See the Schedule of Events for 2006's One Book

Read more about My Sister's Keeper and Jodi Picoult...

	Jodi Picoult's web site		Learn more about organ donation
	My Sister's Keeper reading guide		United Network for Organ Sharing
	An interview with Jodi Picoult		Learn how to become an organ donor
	NPR audio interview with Jodi Picoult		Connecticut DMV info on organ donation
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Mayor reveals this year's One Book  -  11/28/05 By ALICE CLAYTON , Editor   MIDDLETOWN -- It took Mayor Sebastian Giuliano just a few moments to start spreading the word on the fourth One Book One Middletown selection. The announcement came moments before the mayor sat to read to youngsters on Saturday as part of the city's annual Holiday on Main events. "As part of (the One Book One Middletown) program I get to introduce this year's selection, "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult," Giuliano said. "Today's political and scientific battles over cloning and DNA and gene replacement therapy led me to think about some of what the future might hold, on a personal level, for people --and thus the story of Anna and Kate was born. In a way, I think of this book as Sophie's Choice for the new millennium. If you use one of your children to save the life of another, are you being a good mother..or a very bad one?," Jodi Picoult on her Web site. Picoult, 38, is the bestselling author of eleven novels: Songs of the Humpback Whale (1992), Harvesting the Heart (1994), Picture Perfect (1995); Mercy (1996), The Pact (1998); Keeping Faith (1999), Plain Truth (2000), Salem Falls (2001), Perfect Match (2002), Second Glance (2003),My Sister's Keeper (2004), and her newest novel, Vanishing Acts. In 2003 she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction. My Sister's Keeper was shortlisted for the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year in the UK , 2005 and a featured selection of the Literary Guild. The publisher, Atria Books, offers the following short description of the novel: "Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never questioned..until now. "Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable..a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life..even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?" One Book One Middletown is spearheaded by the Middletown Rotary Club and the steering committee began meeting in September to make this year's selection. The committee began with approximately a dozen titles, which members read over the summer and offered up for consideration. The committee will be planning a series of events for this spring, with events, dates and times to be announced later. To contact Alice Clayton call (860) 347-3331 ext. 224. Online Article Middletown Press web site ©The Middletown Press 2005