Radium Girls

Radium Girls does a great job of telling this story in an accessible, engaging way. The artwork is stunning, and Cy makes the characters so relatable that their fates still hit you, even though you know what's coming.

The heartbreaking story of the radium girls told with empathy and humanized these women who were very badly wronged by their employer. The art style is beautiful and haunting. A fantastic non fiction graphic novel.

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!

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.

Based on a true story, Radium Girls is set in 1910s New Jersey. In Orange, everyone knows the « Ghost Girls ». These women hold well-paying jobs at the local watch factory. Everyday, they paint watch dials, using a radium based solution. These working-class young women gained their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift and the strange glow that emanated from their teeth and lips in the dark. Presented as harmless by the watch manufacturer, the girls didn’t worry about these secondary effects… until their bodies started showing other signs of side effects.

Radium is a powerful testimony about women fighting to get their rights recognized. Cy has done an amazing job, both of the story and the art. The simple use of color pencils in the illustrations accentuate the shocking atmosphere of the story. The focus is really the story of these women, and how the lies told by their employer totally changed their lives.

From the beginning to the very end, we see how these women evolve, deeply affected by the effects of radium. This historical graphic novel does a very great job depicting that important part of labor history in the US. It was an extremely interesting and pleasant read that I really loved.

This was such a great graphic novel. I had heard of the Radium Girls before and knew a little bit of their history but I learned so much more by reading this graphic novel. Overall, I would highly recommend everyone check this out.

The Radium Girls have been pretty popular as of late and this is a great introduction to their heartbreaking story. The drawings are simple pencil illustrations but effective in communicating the characters emotions. The drawings surrounding character deaths were both beautiful and heartbreaking. I think this a great medium to get more people interested in their story and their historical significance. The story is a broad overview of their story and hopefully will get people to read even deeper. I also enjoyed the interview with the author at the end.

An unforgettable, poignant, heart-shattering book entry, yet strangely luminous and liberating than ever. <i>Radium Girls</i> tells the tragic yet empowering story of six women of Orange, New Jersey in 1918, who fought for their rights after suffering from radium poisoning from working in a watch factory. The art style with hints of cubism is strangely pretty and appropriate. The author heavily relied on this breath-taking art instead of dialogue which is nothing but effective for a quick read. The purple color motif gives the rather mix of luxury, sadness, beauty, justice, and truth in the totality of the work. It is truly one of its kind. I would like to read more about these shining women so I'll hit the non-fiction shelves and look for them.

My gratitude to Iron Circus Comics and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this beautiful graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

A seriously STUNNING adaptation of the story of the infamous Radium Girls. I have heard the basics of the story before but seeing the glow and the decay made us feel for these women. Cy is a wonderful artist and I look forward to more of their work in the future!

RADIUM GIRLS is an absolutely beautiful depiction of a terrible tragedy. This gorgeous, lush graphic novel depicts the true story of the Radium Girls, whose grueling and painful experiences with radiation poisoning acquired on the job led to new discussions about workplace safety and workers' rights. Cy's expressive and dreamy artwork and efficient writing provide an engaging overview of this important event in history. I loved the soft colored pencil line work and muted pastels-- a perfect palette for contrasting the girls' optimistic outlook for the future with the dark fates that awaited them.

This comic is so well written. CY knows how to create empaty between us readers and the characters. I was already aware of the Radium Girls, but it was great to learn a little bit more. This girls will not be forgotten!.

A beautifully drawn color pencil rendering of the historic Radium Girls. The story is told from the point of the view of the radium girls themselves, delving into their personal experiences and friendships. A bit less of the historical aspect than I'd like to see, but the author addresses this during the short interview at the end of the book. A quick and fascinating look into the little known lives of the Radium Girls that will leave you wishing for just a bit more.

The story of the Radium Girls is not as well known as it should be, especially the women in New Jersey who were critical to later victories but are often all but overlooked. This book helps personalize the women of New Jersey who fought the early fight. The illustrations in this graphic novel somehow perfectly align with the stark story of these women without giving up the vivacity that each of them had. It is an easy read in the sense that it flows very well but it also does a heavy topic justice.

This was a really powerful read. I didn't know anything about The Radium Girls, I knew about radiation poisoning but I didn't exactly know about this historical event.
It was a precise profound graphic book that left me gasping for breath, wiping tears from my eyes. The illustrations were really well done, with muted colours that weren't too hard on the eyes. The cartoon illustrations of such an important historical event was done refreshingly well.
I have tried reading graphic books before only to toss them aside for its a genre I just can't get into, but I have a feeling this book has changed my distaste for this genre.
It gave me enough information to not feel lost and left some for further research on my own. The book lightly brushes several important aspects of that time, like the right to vote and the patriarchal regulations set to keep women in check and honestly under men. The societal conceptions of how a woman should behave and carry herself inorder to be called a pious woman with morals. The simple pleasures of life weren't for women since that meant she wasn't of sound character. All of these things were mentioned briefly in this graphic novel. It made me think of how far we've come and how far we still need to go.
This story is not only empowering but brings to light matters of occupational hazards. For a graphic book of only about a 100 pages, to be able to show you a glimpse of happy women who are full of life turning into shells of themselves, breaking your heart is no small feat.
I highly recommend this book.

This is a fast bittersweet read. For all the suffering these women went through, a lot has changed regarding women and worker's rights. The author's choice of telling the story through the "Radium Girls"' perspective was the high point of it, seeing the progression of their predicament through their eyes was much more painful but necessary. These women must be remembered. The art style and choice of material enchanted me, I've never read a graphic novel entirely colered in pencils. Also a great way of bringing this story to attention in a quick but assertive format.

I simply adore this graphic novel and I am always drawn to more history based ones. So this one captured my interest because of its cover illustration alone and while researching I have found out the story behind it.
It captures the very dramatic origin very well and has a modern drawing style which I simply love.
The use of less colours is fabulous.
It is one of those graphic novels which you can use in history lessons as well.
Simply wonderful.

Fantastic and haunting, with beautiful colors and illustrations (in colored pencil!). I don't think I even need to say more.

Radium Girls is a fantastic story about the ugly truths that business often comes before people. Based on a true story more people should know about the lives, hardships, and mark these women left on the world. The changes they made for everyone; expect themselves. Giving everything they had and more, suffering until the end of their lives.

Both a tragic but important story told with such beautifully haunting details and coloring to match.

**Thank you to Letter Better Publishing Services, Iron Circus Comics, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

The true story of these women is absolutely heartbreaking. At a time when women were just starting to truly break out of the homemaker role and make a mark on the world and their job is killing them.
The artwork was beautifully done and I loved the way they symbolized the death of each woman.

I absolutely adored this book. I knew next to nothing about the “Radium Girls” and the awful situation they were put in so I was really intrigued when I received a copy from Netgallery. I’m so glad I read this and can now understand more about these brave wonderful women. The art style really lent itself to the storytelling and I found it equally beautiful and tragic in parts. I would highly recommend this title as a wonderful remembrance to these women and this time period.

The colored pencil artwork was the perfect medium to capture the era, characters, and events.

Such a tragic story of these women who could have, should have, lived if not for capitalism and misinformation.

Thank you to the author and artist for honoring and sharing the memory of these women who met tragic and completely avoidable deaths. Their bravery and fight till the end aids in protecting worker's rights to this day and we should all be grateful for that.

It's so wild to think that these events were only about a hundred years ago. Doubly tragic knowing that similar stories are still happening to this day.

Such a heart wrenching book. I have just recently heard of the Radium Girls and saw a movie that was put out. Seeing it in graphic novel form made it so much more real. Seeing what the radium did to them and how the system let them down. Thankfully workers rights have come a long way but there still is work to do

Due to my committee work I am unable to review titles that are eligible to be included on our Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. Please see www.yalsa.com/thehub for a blog post about this title.

I really enjoyed reading a graphic novel interpretation of Radium Girls, The artwork was interesting, and I liked the symbolic use of colors. I appreciated that the focus was less on the gruesome aspect of what the radium did to them, and it focuses more on their lives, sorrows, laughter, and their struggle. I will gladly recommend *is book for my library to hopefully get in!

I actually had to do two readthroughs of this one to fully form my thoughts about it, because although it's a story I know and one that has become more... I hesitate to use the phrase mainstream, but the book The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women definitely shot it into the sphere of more common knowledge, there's things here that I wasn't fully aware of and wanted to take another peek at. While I love most historical graphic novels, this one caught my eye even more because I actually thought it was related to Moore's book, and I was delighted to find out it wasn't. This book is actually relatively unbiased, too, it paints the women for who they are; for better and for worse. A few people have keyed into the scene on the beach, which I understand where some may find it offensive, however I think it lends a certain amount of humanity and timeliness to the whole situation. Not every activist was perfect, not every person was a saint, and Cy has done a wonderful job showing the effects of society on these women. Their story is one of trying to exist, really, in a terrible situation, and the tone is set beautifully with the style and colour scheme of this, definitely one I'd recommend picking up.

This book was a gorgeous take on the story of the Radium Girls, an important moment in American history. These women suffered greatly, and I'm so thrilled that their story is being told in another format to make it even more accessible to new readers.

The art was gorgeous and made me rethink about the way the story was told. I really enjoyed it, and can't wait to make a display highlighting this title along with the other books about the Radium Girls we own here at the library. It will be a wonderful addition to our collection!

This graphic novel was so well done. The artwork and coloring was perfect considering the subject matter. I read Radium Girls by Kate Moore last year and cannot stop thinking about it. This was another great addition to the work about these girls. It was a quick read but so powerful.