What This Book Is About
In the early 1900s, hundreds of young American women landed what seemed like a dream job: painting watch dials with luminous radium paint in factories across New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut. The paint made the dials glow in the dark—and the girls glowed too, earning them the nickname "ghost girls." They were told the paint was perfectly safe. Their supervisors even encouraged them to lick their brushes to get a finer point, a technique called "lip-pointing."
Then the girls started getting sick. Their teeth fell out. Their jaws literally disintegrated. Their bones became so brittle they shattered from simply walking. When they sought answers, the radium companies hired doctors to lie, suppressed evidence, and blamed the women themselves. What followed was one of the most important labor rights battles in American history—a group of dying women who refused to stay silent, took on some of the most powerful corporations in the country, and won protections that still safeguard workers today. Kate Moore's young readers' edition brings this devastating true story to middle schoolers with all its power intact.
Available at Popular bookstores, Kinokuniya, and the Singapore National Library.
Why UWC Chose This Book
The Radium Girls sits at the intersection of science, history, and social justice—three pillars of the UWC curriculum. It teaches students how to think critically about corporate claims, the importance of whistleblowers, and how ordinary people can dismantle unjust systems through persistence and courage.
The non-fiction format builds academic reading skills that transfer directly to research projects and IB preparation. Students learn to evaluate primary sources, understand cause and effect in historical events, and connect past injustices to present-day issues like environmental pollution and workers' rights. In a school that values service and advocacy, this book shows what advocacy looks like when the stakes are life and death.
Reading Level Guide
A stretch read at B1. Build vocabulary with B1 novels like Holes or Hatchet first, then tackle this.
Perfect difficulty. Challenging enough to grow, accessible enough to enjoy.
Comfortable read at C1. The content remains compelling regardless of language level.
Other UWC Recommended Books for This Grade
Not sure if this book is right for your child? Take our free 30-minute English assessment to find their CEFR level, then choose books that match.