The Secret Language of Sisters is both a representation of the harsh consequences of texting while driving and a display of the strong bond between sisters. Roo McCabe is a 16-year-old who is pretty much perfect: she’s popular, smart, and loves photography. She’s on her way to graduating at the top of her class, and then off to Yale. But when she makes the mistake of responding to a text while driving, she crashes her car and ends up in a coma.

This is a novel about the horrors that can result from texting while driving, as well as the guilt felt by the injured person’s friends and family – especially by the one whose text distracted her. This guilt is at the center of Luanne Rice’s overall message. When you text a friend, you aren’t aware of what they are doing or where they are. They could be at a movie, in a restaurant, talking to someone – or driving. You just don’t know. In the novel, Tilly is texting her sister, Roo, because Roo is late to pick her up. Tilly assumes Roo is out taking photos and has lost track of time. She also assumes that if Roo is driving she will not answer the text without pulling over.

After the accident, Tilly becomes the focus of a campaign against texting while driving, a campaign begun by Tilly and Roo’s mom and carried out by the school and local media. Not one person, however, tells Tilly that the accident was not her fault. A few other people texted Roo the day of the accident, including her best friend and her boyfriend. But Tilly’s text is the one that Roo received at the wrong moment. Does that make Tilly more to blame for the crash than the others?

Of course, there is more to this novel than just its anti-texting-and-driving message. Roo struggles to regain a semblance of her former life; Tilly grapples with her feelings for Roo’s boyfriend, and family issues come to the forefront.

Overall, The Secret Language of Sisters is an interesting novel about sisters whose lives are drastically changed in a matter of seconds. Their journey through Roo’s accident and her hospitalization is a powerful one, and their bond ultimately allows the novel to end on an uplifting note.