Radiate

By: Marley Gibson
Location: Fic GIB
Genre: Youth Fiction- Drama

This book came in a box of hopefuls, ones that I get to pick or discard. So I skim the box, make an initial cut, ask students what they think and then if I get a chance I sit and read portions of the book to see how well it reads. The cover of this book was a bit silly, and it was in the chop pile but this was a bad book- because as much as I wanted to stop reading it to skim the others I just could not- and then I ended up in tears and I was at work and my colleague laughed at me.
This is a story, a novel, but based on the authors own experiences, of teenage cancer. It is about a young woman who is a cheerleader, in THE team and then she is struck down with cancer in her leg. It is about courage, disappointment, family, God and even a romance! The thing is, it looks all fictiony, made up niceness- but in reality it IS Marley Gibson true story.  In our setting it would be like someone making Netball Open A team and then having to have surgery that might mean losing your leg.  I love the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the title "Radiate" says it all. How someone faces death, and a life as a cripple and still shines! Great book despite the cover, maybe the saying is true.