The Radium Girls: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark by Kate Moore.

This year, the seventh grade students read the non-fiction book, The Radium Girls: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark. The book told the story of dial painters that worked in Newark, NJ and Ottawa, IL from 1917 to the 1930’s. These dial painters were instructed to paint watches with radium paint even after it was known radium was dangerous. Consequently, the dial painters became sick. These women fought their companies for justice. To culminate this unit, students had a Q&A Zoom call with the author, Kate Moore. The students spent a lot of time compiling questions and narrowing it down to determine which questions would be asked. Question topics varied from how the book came to be to asking for advice on becoming a writer. Kate Moore provided insightful answers and it was a pleasure to hear her speak.

~Miss M. McKeon