Radiant [electronic resource]. Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.
A historical middle-grade novel in verse from multiple Coretta Scott King winner Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. As school begins in 1963, Cooper Dale wrestles with what it means to “shine” for a black girl in a predominantly white community near Pittsburgh. Set against the historic backdrop of the Birmingham church bombing, the Kennedy assassination, and Beatlemania, Radiant is a finely crafted novel in verse about race, class, faith, and finding your place in a loving family and a complicated world.   Cooper’s primary concern is navigating fifth grade, where she faces both an extra-strict teacher and the bullying of Wade Carter, the only child of a well-to-do white family, whose home Cooper’s mother cleans for extra income. How can she shine when her mother works for the meanest boy in school? To make matters worse, Cooper quietly wishes she could be someone else. It’s not all bad, though. Cooper and her beloved older sister have fallen for the Beatles, and Cooper is thrilled to have something special they can share. And what she learns about her British idols adds new complexity to Cooper’s feelings about race.
Electronic resources
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- Physical Description: 1 online resource
Content descriptions
- Target Audience Note:
- Text Difficulty 2MG/Middle grades (4th-8th)3.4 ATOS Level
- Accessibility Note:
- All content can be read as read aloud speech or dynamic brailleAppearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and font size, spaces between paragraphs, sentences, words, and letters, as well as color of background and text)Color is not the sole means of conveying informationElements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigationHas alternative text descriptions for imagesHigh contrast between text and backgroundPage breaks includedTable of contents to all chapters of the text via linksCertified by Penguin Random House LLCThis publication claims to meet the EPUB Accessibility version 1.1 and WCAG version 2.1 AA Standard
- Reproduction Note:
- Electronic reproduction. New York: Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2025. Requires the Libby app or a modern web browser.
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- Juvenile Fiction.
African American Fiction. - Genre:
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Summary:
A historical middle-grade novel in verse from multiple Coretta Scott King winner Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. As school begins in 1963, Cooper Dale wrestles with what it means to “shine” for a black girl in a predominantly white community near Pittsburgh. Set against the historic backdrop of the Birmingham church bombing, the Kennedy assassination, and Beatlemania, Radiant is a finely crafted novel in verse about race, class, faith, and finding your place in a loving family and a complicated world. Cooper’s primary concern is navigating fifth grade, where she faces both an extra-strict teacher and the bullying of Wade Carter, the only child of a well-to-do white family, whose home Cooper’s mother cleans for extra income. How can she shine when her mother works for the meanest boy in school? To make matters worse, Cooper quietly wishes she could be someone else. It’s not all bad, though. Cooper and her beloved older sister have fallen for the Beatles, and Cooper is thrilled to have something special they can share. And what she learns about her British idols adds new complexity to Cooper’s feelings about race.
