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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: The Young Reader's Edition
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: The Young Reader's Edition

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4.03  ·  Rating details ·  344 Ratings  ·  14 Reviews
A middle-grade adaptation of same title with thread on writer's own difficulties. Henrietta Lacks was a poor Southern tobacco farmer whose cervical cancer cells taken without her knowledge in 1951 treatment, have been vital in fighting polio, cancer, and viruses. Topics are race, bioethics, research, rights, family, and whether we control our cells.
ebook, 256 pages
Published December 25th 2013 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
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Brita Beyerlein
May 01, 2015 rated it really liked it
Excellent. It's amazing to see how the author took so many different strands of the story and an immense pile of research and wove it together into a very reader friendly, engaging book.
Savannah Spice
Aug 29, 2017 rated it it was amazing
The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks was a fantastic book to read. The book itself taught you so many things about science and how unfairly some people can be treated. It gave me so many different emotions, with how these people just used this discovery and never even told the family about it. This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I couldn't even put it down! This book tells the story of how one woman's cells helped scientists find a new discovery and how the family faced hard ...more
Dorinda
Aug 28, 2017 rated it really liked it
This book draws you in with the family history of Hela as well as the history of scientific advancements related to research. Both positive and negative research. Perfect balance of science with the development of real life characters.
Arlene Castaneda
Nov 14, 2017 rated it it was amazing
Great book.
Ginger Williams
Aug 20, 2012 rated it really liked it
As always, truth is stranger than fiction. An unknown poor black woman dies a painful death of cervical cancer in the 50's and her cells go on to flourish around the world and figure in some of the most important medical research ever.

The author weaves 3 strands together: the scientific, the personal lives of Ms. Lacks and her family, and what happened to the author in the writing of this book. The third strand was just as fascinating as the other two in showing the challenges of writing a book.
...more
Tara
Apr 14, 2016 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
I couldn't put down this book. It was so easy to read and fascinating - it is at once a science book, biography, social history and a social commentary. It tells the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks from whom HeLa cells were 'developed' and charts the proliferation of these cells against the backdrop of her family story before and after her death. Skloot's writing is accessible and engaging on many levels.
Beth Meyers
Fantastic book. The author's research was meticulous and her sensitivity to the Lacks family was amazing. Everyone should read this book and really start the conversation about tissue research and everyone's rights and responsibilities regarding it.
Susan
Apr 18, 2015 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
I think anyone who reads this books would wonder why they had never heard of Henrietta Lacks before. Fascinating and a wonderful book for pondering scientific research and some of the ethical considerations that go into it.
Ann Pastor EVHS
May 24, 2015 rated it liked it
The book is really good in telling the before and after story to what happenned to Henrietta Lacks. It was really sad to know how their lives changed after and all their hardship that they went through.
Corinne
Apr 29, 2015 rated it really liked it
I found it fascinating.
Wendy
Jun 08, 2012 rated it really liked it
Re-reading for Book Club!
Celeste Seales
May 01, 2012 rated it it was amazing
it was amazing at first i didnt want to read it because it was about science but wow she doesnt make the book overwhelming or anything it is definetly a most read
Bev Kaplan
Great story about how Henrietta Laks's genes was used illegally.
Deborah Balsham
wrong edition
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