Radiant

Gr 4-7–It’s 1963 near Pittsburgh, and for Cooper Dale, the only thing worse than being the only Black student in her fifth grade class is having to contend with both “the Queen of Darkness” (also known as Mrs. Keating) and relentless bully Wade Carter. Cooper’s mother works for Wade’s wealthy white family, adding complexity to the nature of his bullying and Cooper’s attempts to succeed at school. She sometimes wishes things could be different; that she could just skip to the next grade or that she was a different person, with a different skin color. But wise words from her church and her father make her realize that everybody is dealing with something, and that fear can make people say and do hurtful things. Nelson deftly weaves in major events from the 1960s, such as President Kennedy’s assassination, the Birmingham church bombing, and The Beatles playing on The Ed Sullivan Show, along with themes from The Wizard of Oz, into a story that reminds readers, “A star can’t shine without a black night sky.”