Back in the Smack: Radium Girls vs. Tune it Out

I’m glad to be back in the Smack after a hiatus of several years! This was a solid first round and while I enjoyed both reads, my vote also goes to Tune it Out.

When I first picked up Radium Girls, I had high hopes that it would be like 2014-pick Bomb, a gripping non-fiction dive into the race to create the atomic bomb. And while Radium Girls had its share of shocks and excitement, I often found myself wanting to quickly just get to the next section as the book felt longer than it needed to be. There were certainly memorable  moments, and I felt compelled to share the story with several friends and colleagues that I encountered in the days following my reading. I appreciated the underlying message of “people before profits” and a new sense of gratitude for OH&S standards and advances on the labour front. I suspect that many students would be excited by the underdog-fighting-for-justice story and moved by some of the more graphic descriptions of the tragically painful illnesses and deaths of the women.

Edit: I just discovered Zorrie, a National Book Award nominated novel about a woman who works at the Radium Dial Company featured in Radium Girls. It looks great! https://www.amazon.ca/Zorrie-Laird-Hunt/dp/1635575362

I should say that I don’t feel like Tune It Out is a far superior read. I chose it to advance because I think that it is a book that more students would be drawn to. I don’t read a ton of middle-grade books these days, but this struck me as fairly typical in its straightforward narrative and characters with just the right amount of complication to be interesting without being morally ambiguous. Family is loving, sometimes disappointing. Teachers and social workers are helpful. Friends are quirky and understanding. Drama class is a place of belonging. Problems always have a solution that is just around the corner. It all felt very wholesome. The representation of sensory processing disorder (SPD) provides an opportunity for readers to understand a form of difference that is often ignored.  The main character’s friend, Well, provides a humorous, if somewhat stereotypical (“the movie stars Bette Middler!”), portrayal of a boy who doesn’t fit the mould of normative masculinity. I liked that the author didn’t feel compelled to explain or resolve his gender or sexual identity but rather allowed him to just exist as he was. Sadly, his side story felt a bit under-developed. My one critique is that at times the narrative voice (and voice of her peers) felt a bit older than 12 (who in grade six is going to work on English essays at a local coffee shop?). I also sometimes wondered if the novel lacked a high-stakes (in the context of a 12 year old’s world) problem that really gave it a narrative thrust. Nevertheless, I could see it holding the interest of many young readers.

Looking forward to reading in round 2!