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    The Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition | Book Review

    Dr. Jen HarrisonBy Dr. Jen Harrison3 Mins Read Ages 9-12 Best Kids Stories Books with Girl Characters Health Science Teens: Young Adults
    The Radium Girls Young Readers Edition Book Review
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    Book Review of Radium Girls
    The Children’s Book Review

    The Radium Girls- Young Readers Edition

    The Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark

    Written by Kate Moore

    Ages 12+ | 432 Pages

    Publisher: Sourcebooks Explore | ISBN: 9781728209470

    What to Expect: Science, history, civil rights, workers rights, consumerism, feminist viewpoint

    What would you do if you found out that your job was killing you? That’s what happened to the Radium Girls, who discovered back in the early years of the twentieth century that, despite knowing that radium was harmful, their managers at the dial-painting studios where they worked had been actively encouraging them to ingest this radioactive substance and concealing the dangers from them.

    The girls soon developed terrible health problems, from rotting jaws to legs that were different lengths. The end result for all of them was an early and painful death. But the worst part was, no one—not the government, not the health authorities, and certainly not their employers—was interested in compensation or justice. Luckily for later generations, these girls were not willing to take this miscarriage of justice lying down…

    Science and history are fascinating because they teach lessons that can make a real difference to human wellbeing and progress. The best science and history non-fiction, therefore, is expository and inspirational—it tells readers things they might not have been aware of and encourages them to take action for positive change. Radium Girls achieves both of these goals with powerfully engaging writing that combines humor, accuracy, and personality. Moore brings the radium girls back to life to tell their stories and inspire a new generation of girls and workers not to leave their safety in the hands of powerful and uncaring others.

    The Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark is gripping, heartbreaking, and deeply inspiring—very much worth reading.

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    About the Author

    Kate Moore is a New York Times best-selling writer with more than a decade’s experience writing and ghosting across varying genres, including memoir, biography, and history. In 2015 she directed a critically acclaimed play about the Radium Girls called ‘These Shining Lives.’ She lives in the UK.

    Visit her at www.kate-moore.com.

    The Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition was reviewed by Dr. Jen Harrison. Discover more books like The Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition by following our reviews and articles tagged with Self-Awareness and Self-Discovery.

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    *Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links that share some commission. Rest assured that these will not affect the cost of any products and services promoted here. Our team always provides their authentic opinion in all content published on this site.

    Books About Feminism Civil Rights Consumerism Books featured History Non-Fiction Science Women's History
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    Dr. Jen Harrison
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    Dr. Jen Harrison provides writing and research services as the CEO of Read.Write.Perfect. She completed her Ph.D. in Children’s and Victorian Literature at Aberystwyth University in Wales, in the UK. After a brief spell in administration, Jen then trained as a secondary school English teacher and worked for several years teaching Secondary School English, working independently as a private tutor of English, and working in nursery and primary schools. She has been an editor for the peer-reviewed journal of children’s literature, Jeunesse, and has published academic work on children’s non-fiction, YA speculative fiction, and the posthuman.

    1 Comment

    1. Ellen on December 3, 2023 5:40 pm

      This is a lot for a young reader to deal with. Corporate greed, sexism, death. I think after all that, a young reader could also deal with the way sexual “shame” was used to keep the women quiet. This edition leaves out how they were told they had a sexually transmitted disease, so they would be ashamed to press their case. This is not a minor part of the story and should not have been omitted, especially from a book that purports to be about sexual discrimination. If a reader can hear about all the horrors that happened here, they should hear the whole story, even if, god forbid, the subject of sex comes into it. It could have been handled in a way that was appropriate for younger readers, but I resent that this important part of the story was completely eliminated. Women being shamed about sex is part of this story.

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