Radium Girls by Kate Moore

The Radium Girls tells the harrowing tale of radium poisoning and corporate irresponsibility.

The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (Young Readers’ Edition).  Greenwillow, 2020, 348 pages plus timeline, notes, bibliography, and index.

Reading Level: Teen, ages 12-15

Recommended for: ages 13-up

It was a miracle substance–not merely unique but full of “enchantment,” according to Marie Curie, who co-discovered it with her husband Pierre. In the early 20^th century, the scientific world was enchanted with radium. Its magical, glow-in-the-dark properties had been used to treat cancer successfully, and medical entrepreneurs were promoting radium pills and radium in health tonics. But one less-extravagant, practical use was in clock and watch dials. The exacting work of painting these dials generally fell to young women, who had the patience and small-motor skills. Radium dial-painting was clean, well-paying work in comfortable surroundings. To paint around the numerals, the girls were instructed to dip fine-tipped brushes into the radium paint and use their lips to point the brush hairs. Over and over.

By the early 1920s, some of the girls began losing teeth. In the worst cases, entire bones were destroyed—jaws, thighs. Some of the girls felt excruciating pain and experienced horrible disfigurement. Then they started dying. Their employers tried to blame other causes, but by the end of the decade there was only one possible explanation: radium was eating them alive. Who would be held responsible?

This a harrowing story even in the Young-Reader version. The effects of radium on the human body varied from case to case, some more horrible than others, but all heartbreaking. Yet it’s also a story of courage and determination as the girls and their allies fought for compensation from irresponsible corporations. It should make us grateful for those who stood up for better health and safety regulations (even if, these days, they sometimes go too far). The narrative moves quickly fast and the writing style, if a tad overdone at times, packs the proper emotional wallop.

Consideration:

• As you might guess, sensitive readers might want to skip this one.

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.75
• Artistic/literary value: 4.25

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Review: Audacity tells the story, in verse form, of Clara Lemlich, the early-20^th-century activist who was instrumental in organizing the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union.
• Review: Science-minded readers will enjoy The Disappearing Spoon, a unique examination of the elements on the periodic table.

We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.