Immortal Life is a fantastic book about the HeLa cell line - immortal cells that kick started many fields of modern medical science. 
 But the story goes beyond the clinical, exploring the life of Henrietta herself, her husband, her children, her many descendants. Much of the story focuses on Deborah, Henrietta's youngest daughter, and her search to learn about the mother she couldn't remember. 
 It's a heartbreakingly human tale of horrific medical abuse, crushing poverty, child abuse, Old Timey medical research ethics. It personalizes what have for so long been thought of as nothing more than a collection of cells in a test tube. 
 The issues raised about ethical medical research are important ones, and Skloot gives us few easy answers. But they are things that we all should know about and consider. 
 Even more important is the history of medical abuses towards black patients and those with mental illnesses. So much of the modern medical science we depend on today was developed through horrific experimentation on vulnerable populations. For that alone, this book should be required reading for all teens. 
 I was aware of most of the issues brought up in the book, but getting to know Deborah and the Lacks family made it all so much more viscerally real.