Published in 2004, it tells the story of thirteen-year-old Anna Fitzgerald, who sues her parents for medical emancipation when she is told to donate a kidney to her elder sister Kate, who is suffering from acute leukemia.

Anna Fitzgerald's older sister, Kate, suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia, a blood and bone marrow cancer.

The on-call firefighter, who happens to be Brian, arrives at the scene, retrieving an unconscious and severely injured Anna from the wreckage of the crushed car.

Kate ends the story by reflecting on the tragedy and explaining that she feels deep guilt but also a bond with the part of Anna inside of her.

In 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".

[2] In 2009, the American Library Association (ALA) and the office for Intellectual Freedom named My Sister's Keeper the seventh out of ten most frequently challenged books in the US.

[3] New Line Cinema adapted My Sister's Keeper into a feature film, which was directed by Nick Cassavetes and released on June 26, 2009.