I am planning to add this to our collection as we have the "Radium Girls" young readers edition, which will be the perfect companion for reluctant readers. It's an excellent adaptation of the book giving enough information about the incredible true story of the young women exposed to the "wonder drug" radium and their struggle for justice in the 1920s.

Radium Girls by Cy is a historical graphic novel inspired by real events. It’s 1918 in Orange, New Jersey, and everyone knows the “Ghost Girls.” The proud holders of well-paying jobs at the local watch factory, these working-class young women gain their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift painting watch dials. The soft, greenish glow even stains their lips and tongues, which they use to point the fine brushes used in their work. It’s perfectly harmless . . . or so claims the watch manufacturer. When teeth start falling out, followed by jawbones, the dial painters become the unprepared vanguard on the frontlines of the burgeoning workers’ rights movement. Desperate for compensation and acknowledgement from the company that has doomed them, the Ghost Girls must fight, not just for their own lives but the future of every woman to follow them.

Radium Girls is an engaging and honest look at what some of the young women that worked with radium went through. I had already read quite a bit on the subject, so I went in knowing most of the facts, but this graphic novel made it all more real by giving the people faces, personalities, and lives. I will admit that at first I was not a big fan of the art style, but it was so well done and matched the time period of the work so well that it quickly won me over. I found that the story did more than just teach readers about what happened with radium, but it also dealt with other parts of everyday life that are universal. Like friendship, family, trying to find your way and your self, and butting heads with those that have different opinions and judge the world differently than you. This was an all around well written, researched, and drawn book and I would recommend it for learning about the Radium Girls and for just being a great read.

I went into this comic after reading so many positive reviews—and I have to say, I was not disappointed! This is an important story and it's told in an impossibly beautiful way. I loved the art style and the way the story was told. If you're up for an empathic (and infuriating) comic reading experience, this might be the book for you!

I really enjoyed the art style of this graphic novel and the way the story was told. I’ve read the book, The Radium Girls, and I feel like this rendition told the heart of the story. It shows the women in their youth, and how they were happy to be working. But it also showed how easy it was for them to believe everything was safe. I think to tell the whole story fully, this needed an additional 100+ pages. I think this is a great introduction to the story of the Radium Girls, and I hope it gets more people interested in learning the full tale of these women.

cy's illustrations are sweet, although the character designs and backgrounds are fairly simple. overall however i did found radium girls to be a rather forgettable read.

The infamous story of girls who consumed dangerous amounts of radium for the sake of capitalism has been illustrated at last!
I am well versed in the story of the Radium Girls and I am so excited that it's finally in a graphic novel adaptation! I am not afraid to have multiple copies of the same book in my library because kids have different reading preferences. There is no one story fits all. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous! Appear to have been painted on, reminding readers of the very paint brushed used by the workers to make the watches. The story is designed in a way to show the impact of the historical event, without being too gory. Such design will help to attract a wider range of readers.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
This graphic novel covers some of the lives of the girls that worked in the radium paint factories and their outcomes. The art is done in a limited color palette with purple and green being the focus colors. The story shows the women at work, at play, and after they have moved on.
One of my problems is how there is a lack of time indicators for how fast the issues came up after the women left work. It was also very light on information that would have helped with understanding what was happening.
This is a good book for anyone interested in historical fiction, the radium girls, or 1920s fiction.

The illustration style is stunning, especially the full page portraits of the main characters. The book was just the right length, able to be finished in one sitting and digest the information presented. Wonderful and heartbreaking read, well done.

Having read the Radium Girls book, I was already familiar with their story. This graphic novel brings new depth to the horror, by putting faces to names in a gorgeous art style that truly draws you in. Some of the panels really hit me: for example, the girls painting dials and licking the brushes while one floor above them the men make the paint while in complete protective gear. Seeing the girls we come to love slowly losing their health and lives as heartbreaking, made all the more poignant by the stunning memorial pieces every time we lost one of them. A gorgeous way for their stories to be told.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read this graphic novel

This is a story that broke my heart. Instructive, informative, raising very important topics. All this was at the highest level.

I also liked the style of drawing in which this graphic novel was made. He very well emphasized the style and time frame of the story.
5 out 5 stars for me, will never forget this story

A fun read on a haunting topic. The author gave us a great mix of horror and humor as we were slowly eased into understanding the true weight of what these women went through.

The poignant true story of the radium girls in the USA. I loved the pencil work, how some pages lit up the dark, how this is a story of history and feminism.
Can't wait to read more from illustrator Cy.

It has been over a year since I listened to the audiobook telling me the whole story of the Radium Girls and their horrific lives.
I have not yet recovered...
I stumbled upon this graphic novel edition and thought ''I can totally handle going back!'' and was granted a copy from NetGalley.
Yeah, I was wrong... It was too soon for me!

The book is based on the true stories of women working for a big radium company in the US.
Their job was to paint clocks for the military with radium paint. Before every stroke, they had to point the tip of the brush with their mouths and put the radium in their mouth hundreds of times a day. Slowly they all got sick, it was horrible, and nobody believed these women until it was too late!

I have so many feelings attached to this piece of history, and I need people to know about this! I have never read a book that made me so angry, and the graphic novel (even though it doesn't go into as much detail) still brings out this anger!

Now, about the graphic novel. I really enjoyed it (even with my anger boiling inside of me). It was nicely made, had most of the main points about the women, and managed to show their lives before, doing, and after the radium.
The art is really unique. I liked the style a lot. I found it so different from any other graphic novel I've read. It was simple yet detailed.
In general, the book offers a quick go-through of the historical events and is a very nice introduction or revisit to the story.
I could have used more detail and dug deeper into the story, but I see why it's made this way makes sense for a graphic novel.

I really liked the art style of this book. The colored pencil drawings allow for a delicacy that you don't often see in graphic novels. I liked the use of color, especially the radium green glow. While this is an important story that deserves to be more widely known, I thought the telling was a little rushed. I do wish I could get this for my middle school library but the book does have illustrations of each character in the nude at the start of each chapter, which is evocative, but unfortunately pushes it outside the realm of middle grade.

This is a really accessible, beautifully illustrated graphic history of the events described in Kate Moore's book Radium Girls. In the 1910s, a factory in New Jersey was staffed with young women told working closely with radium would have health benefits, when in reality it caused horrifying damage and death. The colored pencil illustrations in this book are really stunning and powerful. The text and dialogue suffered a bit from translation from French, I believe, and it's a long saga that has been simplified significantly. But I'm fascinated by how Cy told this story in a unique way, and I hope new readers learn the story of the Radium Girls from this!

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the free graphic novel*

Having read the non-fiction-ish book called "Radium Girls", I already knew the content of this graphic novel. It's about young women working in a factory painting watches with radium so that they'd glow in the dark. Being told that the substance was entirely harmless, they dipped the brush into radium and then used their mouth to form it to draw more accurately. They all start getting very sick and dying very fast, but decide to start back, to sue the people who knew that radium was dangerous and just exploited them.

It is a touching story, sometimes hard to read, but the drawings are well done and the graphic novel manages to condense the story while sticking to the vital parts. I don't want to call it enjoyable but it will keep you interested.

5 stars

Very informative- I was not aware of the radium girls, the radium poisoning, nor the far-reaching effects of it. I very much enjoyed the story, but the illustrations for the most part turned me off. I love a good graphic novel, but I simply didn't care for the style of these illustrations. They were a distraction to the story line, in my opinion.

This gorgeous book is based on the true story of the Radium Girls - women who became famous after suing their workplace for unsafe working conditions. Author/illustrator Cy has created a heartbreaking, tragic piece of art that will stay with any reader.

Thank you to NetGalley and Glénat for an eARC of Radium Girls: The Graphic Novel by Cy. in exchange for an honest review.

CW: systemic abuse, gaslighting, medical content, see full list on StoryGraph

An excellently produced homage to the Radium Girls, who lost their lives in the fight to change the course of history and protect workers from dangerous conditions in America.

This was so incredibly powerful. Having read Kate Moore's nonfiction account of the Radium Girls story, I was honored to see the story of these women come to life in graphic form. The color palette was stunning and served to complement and exaggerate the dangerous glow of the radium that was slowly killing these women from the inside out. I found the pages depicting the death of each woman to be particularly moving. If it was not already clear how much respect the author had for these women and their story, the interview with the author included at the end of the book served to further elucidate the inspiration and purpose behind this beautiful project. I am thankful to have been able to read this book and hope that people far and wide pick up this book to learn about how their own safe work conditions are owed to these brave women.

**thank you Netgalley and Iron Circus Comics for eARC**

This pencil drawn graphic novel tells a part of a tragic story of Radium girls, who lost their lives and suffered terribly by the hands of corporate cover-up.

What drew my attention to this story was mostly the art style which I find absolutely stunning. Delicate drawings done in style of pencil colors, combined by powerful imaginary, suited the story as best as it could.

All art aside, I think story progressed way to fast, leaving important details out and cutting their fight for justice short. Since I've read non-fiction book this graphic novel took inspiration from, I couldn't help but feel like it needed more depth and focus than we got here.

Even though I had problems with story, I still think it is a good introduction to their lives and strength. If this is your first encounter with this part of the history, I strongly suggest you pick up "Radium girls" by Kate Moore for further reading.

3.5/5