Content: PG (descriptions of the women’s injuries)
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
In the early years of the 1900’s radium was considered a wonder drug – capable of healing all ills. Plus it was delightfully luminescent, its glow-in-the-dark qualities perfect for the watches and dials of the pilots and fighters during WWI. The women in the dial-painting studio pointed their brushed by licking the bristles before each stroke. Plus the glowing powder was so much fun – they would paint their faces and bodies to make pantomimes. What they didn’t know, what America didn’t know is that radium was also a secret killer – the effects being held at bay for years before unleashing their fury. It would take many years, many deaths and the perseverance of many women to finally win this fight – not just once but several times, before the public, the world, would acknowledge the dangers and take steps to protect the future.
As seminal and detailed Moore’s book is about this important, and little known chapter in world history, that detail and length will work against it being popular in school libraries. Unless you have a teacher who will champion it as an optional read for an American History or science class, you will have a hard time finding many readers. This is a good candidate for a purchase as an ebook in a shared account.
Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS
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