good reads #7 THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

So here's how my list of 26 reads for 2014 is going so far.....

1. The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett 
2-10. The Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
11. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
12. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
13. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry Currently reading
15. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White Currently reading with Georgia....we're almost done. She loves it!
16. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
17. Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
18. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
19. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
20. Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
21. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
22. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
23. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell I started, but had to return it to the library before I could finish :(
24. Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson
25. The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
26. They Were Still Born: Personal Stories About Stillbirth by Janel Atlas 


7 down and 19 more to go. It helps when you are reading two at a time. I can do this, right? Sure I can! 

Anyway, I just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. 



This is one of those stories that breaks your heart. Your heart breaks for Henrietta and her children. But at the same time, everything that Henrietta's cells do is absolutely amazing. At one point in the book, Henrietta's youngest two children are looking through a microscope at their mother's cells. Her son says to the researcher, why aren't the cells black, my mother was black. And then the researcher explained how we are all the same on the inside. It was hard to believe that some people might not know this as little as 10 years ago. We are all the same Henrietta...and thank you for your contribution to science....even though no one asked you if it was ok to take your cells. You helped find cures and vaccines for diseases. You helped scientists learn what would happen to cells during certain conditions. You helped in so many ways and you didn't even know it. RIP Henrietta!

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