Radiant

A historical middle-grade novel-in-verse from multiple Coretta Scott King winner Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. In the momentous fall of 1963, Cooper Dale wrestles with what it means to “shine” for a Black girl in a predominantly white suburb of Pittsburgh. Beginning with the Birmingham bombing and featuring the Kennedy assassination and Beatlemania, Cooper’s primary concern is navigating fifth grade, where she faces both an extra-strict teacher and the bullying of Wade Carter, the only child of a well-to-do white family, whose home Cooper’s mother cleans for extra income. How can she “shine” when her mother is working for the meanest boy in school? Compounding this frustration is Cooper’s secret shame: sometimes she wishes she were white. It’s not all bad, though. Cooper and her beloved older sister have discovered the Beatles, and Cooper is thrilled to have something they can share. The story uses period-correct details about the Beatles’ admiration for Black music from America to further complicate Cooper’s feelings about race.

Auteur
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson is an American writer known for her fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. Her books have won numerous awards, including the Coretta Scott King medal and the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. She is a former youth services librarian and lives in New Mexico with her husband, Drew.

Texte du rabat

A historical middle-grade novel in verse from multiple Coretta Scott King winner Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.

As school begins in 1963, Cooper Dale wrestles with what it means to “shine” for a black girl in a predominantly white community near Pittsburgh. Set against the historic backdrop of the Birmingham church bombing, the Kennedy assassination, and Beatlemania, Radiant is a finely crafted novel in verse about race, class, faith, and finding your place in a loving family and a complicated world.

Cooper’s primary concern is navigating fifth grade, where she faces both an extra-strict teacher and the bullying of Wade Carter, the only child of a well-to-do white family, whose home Cooper’s mother cleans for extra income. How can she shine when her mother works for the meanest boy in school? To make matters worse, Cooper quietly wishes she could be someone else.

It’s not all bad, though. Cooper and her beloved older sister have fallen for the Beatles, and Cooper is thrilled to have something special they can share. And what she learns about her British idols adds new complexity to Cooper’s feelings about race.