Radiant

October 21, 2024
Cooper Dale, who has brown skin (“My skin is brown/ but people say/ I’m black”) and lives in a majority white community outside of Pittsburgh, is dreading her upcoming fifth grade year with no-nonsense teacher Mrs. Keating. Though Cooper’s family informs her that she must work twice as hard as her white peers, she struggles to understand why her skin color matters to those around her. Life-changing historical events—including the JFK assassination, the church bombing in Birmingham, and the increased presence of the KKK—add intensity to the narrative, which is rendered in introspective verse. Cooper’s older brother adopts Malcolm X’s attitudes, her father conveys life lessons via Langston Hughes’s poetry, and her mother, who does domestic labor for white families, encourages her to embrace Dr. King’s teachings. When Cooper’s mother is hired by her white school bully Wade’s family to help care for his terminally ill mother, she tries to impart her parents’ wisdom to befriend Wade; “he could benefit/ from a little kindness,” Mrs. Keating entreats. Nelson (Small Shoes, Great Strides) presents an emotive glimpse into the civil rights era via Cooper’s careful internal monologue and nuanced characterization. Ages 10–14.