4th grade books
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A01=Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
american history
american history for kids
Author_Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Black church
Books about faith
books for 10 year old boys
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books for 11 year old girls
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Christianity
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girls books ages 9-12
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Product details
- ISBN 9780593855805
- Weight: 215g
- Dimensions: 129 x 197mm
- Publication Date: 06 Jan 2026
- Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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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 this year at school, 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.
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson is an American writer known for her fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. Her books have won numerous awards, including the Coretta Scott King medal and the Boston Globe Horn Book Award. She is a former youth services librarian and lives in New Mexico with her husband, Drew.
