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Good-bye, Billy Radish
This is the poignant story of the friendship between two boys, Hank Kerner and Bazyli Radichevych, called Billy Radish, set in the steel town of Canaan, Pennsylvania, in 1917. Thge boys are very different, for while Hank considers himself all-American, Billy is a Ukrainian immigrant straddling two cultures. As World War I rages overseas, both boys are faced with some difficult questions.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
24 people want to read
About the author
Gloria Skurzynski
90 books30 followers"May you live in interesting times."
That ambiguous wish was not meant to be kind, because interesting times can be difficult. You and I certainly live in interesting times - dangerous, challenging, and fascinating.
My parents were born just before the start of the twentieth century; my youngest grandchild arrived in this century's final decade. The years in between have been the most dynamic in the history of the human race. Technical knowledge has exploded; so has the Earth's human population. We can create almost anything, yet each day we lose parts of our planet that can never be replaced.
I'm greedy: I want to write about all of it - the history, the grief, joy, and excitement of being human in times past; the cutting-edge inventions of times almost here.
--from the author's website
Gloria Skurzynski has also co-written books with her daughter Alane Ferguson.
That ambiguous wish was not meant to be kind, because interesting times can be difficult. You and I certainly live in interesting times - dangerous, challenging, and fascinating.
My parents were born just before the start of the twentieth century; my youngest grandchild arrived in this century's final decade. The years in between have been the most dynamic in the history of the human race. Technical knowledge has exploded; so has the Earth's human population. We can create almost anything, yet each day we lose parts of our planet that can never be replaced.
I'm greedy: I want to write about all of it - the history, the grief, joy, and excitement of being human in times past; the cutting-edge inventions of times almost here.
--from the author's website
Gloria Skurzynski has also co-written books with her daughter Alane Ferguson.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 7, 2025
Good-bye, Billy Radish is a 1992 late middle grade and young adult historical fiction novel and is also the sequel to The Tempering (1983), although Good-bye, Billy Radish can definitely be read as a standalone (even if many of the characters, including main protagonist Hank Kerner do appear in both novels) and with Good-bye, Billy Radish taking place from 1917 to 1918 (and as such until the end of WWI in November and the beginning of the Spanish flu pandemic) in the fictional steel mill town of Canaan, Pennsylvania (the parallel to Duquesne, Pennsylvania, the steel industry hometown of author Gloria Skurzynski.
Now with Good-bye, Billy Radish Skurzynski tells the fictional (but harshly realistic) story of two working-class boys, of the above mentioned Hank Kerner, who considers himself all-American (although his background is German and Irish) and his best friend Bazyli Radichevych, a recent Ukrainian immigrant to the USA whom Hank rather immediately and rather callously names Billy Radish. But yes, this nickname of both his first name and also his surname is if you read between the lines of Good-bye, Billy Radish something that Bazyli Radichevych obviously does not really like or want but which he simply and annoyingly accepts or perhaps must tolerate with a gracefulness, with a resigned acceptance that I personally as a German immigrant to Canada with a hard-to-pronounce first and last name kind of understand but which I equally and majorly wish were not so happily, were not so majorly uncritically textually condoned and made light of in Good-bye, Billy Radish and therefore with and by Skurzynski's words (except sotto vocce so to speak), that indeed, even when Hank Kerner gets nastily made fun of and called a Kraut due to WWI anti-German sentiment in Good-bye, Billy Radish (and specifically due to his German last name) he still and a trifle infuriatingly for me personally does not ever consider how changing Bazyli Radichevych to Billy Radish might have been and continues to be something somewhat ethnically problematic, patronising and even potentially bordering on being mildly offensive. And not to mention that there definitely is (in my opinion) a wee bit of negativity emanating from Hank throughout Good-bye, Billy Radish towards anything that he considers not sufficiently American, such as Bazyli's Ukrainian language, the Ukrainian tradition of pysanky eggs for Easter and his Orthodox religion, definitely uncomfortable albeit also realistic (although I am glad that Hank Kerner accepts the pysanky egg Billy gives to him as a gift and also learns to appreciate its cultural and religious significance).
So in each chapter of Good-bye, Billy Radish Gloria Skurzynski realistically depicts and describes the rigours of work and of life in early 20th century Pennsylvanian (and probably all if not most American) steel mills and mill towns, the (and sometimes also volatile) mix of immigrant cultures, Hank's bewilderment and occasional jealousy as Bazyli Radichevych, as Billy (who is two years older) begins to move into adulthood, the intense emotions engendered by the by WWI, Bazyli's death in the 1918 influenza pandemic and Hank's discovery at the end of Good-bye, Billy Radish of what he wants as a career (that after delivering and saving his newborn nephew, Hank Kerner desires to become a doctor), with the dirt, noise and the danger of the steel mills being a constan ominous presence and threat.
Not for extremely sensitive and hugely squeamish readers is Good-bye, Billy Radish as there are realistic and historically accurate scenes of a gruesome mill accident and a home birth that could easily have become a tragedy being described, but that Good-bye, Billy Radish is also not ever gratuitously violent and such either, does not textually dwell on and wallow in horror and mayhem, and that at least on the surface and regarding how Skurzynski presents her contents (her facts) Good-bye, Billy Radish is for me very decent historical fiction. However, with little to no character depth and development to be encountered throughout Good-bye, Billy Radish (as well as not all that much emotion either, even during the mill accident that kills Karl Kerner's foreman, when Hank's newborn baby nephew almost dies at birth and when Bazyli Radichevych then dies of the flu) and that as already mentioned above, I certainly do require a bit of solid author criticism in particular regarding Hank Kerner simply changing Bazyli Radichevych into Billy Radish and never even remotely considering if doing so could not be something ethnically problematic, yes, and like with the first novel, like with The Tempering, my rating for what Gloria Skurzynski textually provides with and in Good-bye, Billy Radish can and will be no more than three stars.
Now with Good-bye, Billy Radish Skurzynski tells the fictional (but harshly realistic) story of two working-class boys, of the above mentioned Hank Kerner, who considers himself all-American (although his background is German and Irish) and his best friend Bazyli Radichevych, a recent Ukrainian immigrant to the USA whom Hank rather immediately and rather callously names Billy Radish. But yes, this nickname of both his first name and also his surname is if you read between the lines of Good-bye, Billy Radish something that Bazyli Radichevych obviously does not really like or want but which he simply and annoyingly accepts or perhaps must tolerate with a gracefulness, with a resigned acceptance that I personally as a German immigrant to Canada with a hard-to-pronounce first and last name kind of understand but which I equally and majorly wish were not so happily, were not so majorly uncritically textually condoned and made light of in Good-bye, Billy Radish and therefore with and by Skurzynski's words (except sotto vocce so to speak), that indeed, even when Hank Kerner gets nastily made fun of and called a Kraut due to WWI anti-German sentiment in Good-bye, Billy Radish (and specifically due to his German last name) he still and a trifle infuriatingly for me personally does not ever consider how changing Bazyli Radichevych to Billy Radish might have been and continues to be something somewhat ethnically problematic, patronising and even potentially bordering on being mildly offensive. And not to mention that there definitely is (in my opinion) a wee bit of negativity emanating from Hank throughout Good-bye, Billy Radish towards anything that he considers not sufficiently American, such as Bazyli's Ukrainian language, the Ukrainian tradition of pysanky eggs for Easter and his Orthodox religion, definitely uncomfortable albeit also realistic (although I am glad that Hank Kerner accepts the pysanky egg Billy gives to him as a gift and also learns to appreciate its cultural and religious significance).
So in each chapter of Good-bye, Billy Radish Gloria Skurzynski realistically depicts and describes the rigours of work and of life in early 20th century Pennsylvanian (and probably all if not most American) steel mills and mill towns, the (and sometimes also volatile) mix of immigrant cultures, Hank's bewilderment and occasional jealousy as Bazyli Radichevych, as Billy (who is two years older) begins to move into adulthood, the intense emotions engendered by the by WWI, Bazyli's death in the 1918 influenza pandemic and Hank's discovery at the end of Good-bye, Billy Radish of what he wants as a career (that after delivering and saving his newborn nephew, Hank Kerner desires to become a doctor), with the dirt, noise and the danger of the steel mills being a constan ominous presence and threat.
Not for extremely sensitive and hugely squeamish readers is Good-bye, Billy Radish as there are realistic and historically accurate scenes of a gruesome mill accident and a home birth that could easily have become a tragedy being described, but that Good-bye, Billy Radish is also not ever gratuitously violent and such either, does not textually dwell on and wallow in horror and mayhem, and that at least on the surface and regarding how Skurzynski presents her contents (her facts) Good-bye, Billy Radish is for me very decent historical fiction. However, with little to no character depth and development to be encountered throughout Good-bye, Billy Radish (as well as not all that much emotion either, even during the mill accident that kills Karl Kerner's foreman, when Hank's newborn baby nephew almost dies at birth and when Bazyli Radichevych then dies of the flu) and that as already mentioned above, I certainly do require a bit of solid author criticism in particular regarding Hank Kerner simply changing Bazyli Radichevych into Billy Radish and never even remotely considering if doing so could not be something ethnically problematic, yes, and like with the first novel, like with The Tempering, my rating for what Gloria Skurzynski textually provides with and in Good-bye, Billy Radish can and will be no more than three stars.
May 29, 2018
I chose to read the book Good-Bye Billy Radish, by Gloria Skurzynski. The protagonist in this book is a young boy named Hank Kerner and his friend Bazyli Radichevych. These boys live in the United States during the time period in which World War I is happening. Because of the war, all of the men in that community go to work in the steel mill as soon as they can. One day Hank went into the steel mill to give his brother his lunch. He wasn’t always scared of the steel mill until he witnessed a terrible accident there. One of the workers and close friend to his father was killed by being burned alive by molten steel that was accidentally dropped on top of him. There was nothing left of him after that. This left Hank scarred and shocked. This was a man vs self conflict. Hank and Billy were good friends. Hank even went to Billy’s 15th birthday were a special person from his church was there to attend. Everyone is from a different country than Hank. Billy and his family are from the Ukraine. As soon as Billy was old enough to work at the Steel Mill he went. Hank hated this and he felt something would happen. And something did happen. Since the air at the mill was so dirty and black, Billy’s lungs couldn’t handle it and he became very sick. This was the falling action. Time passed and sorrow words were exchanged by both friends and eventually Billy died. They had many adventures such as the ones during the 4th of July parades they went to together. The book ends with Hank finding a Easter Egg that Billy had given to him for his birthday many years back. Quite a sad ending but it’s cool how they brought back the specially decorated egg from the beginning of the book.
I connected to Hank in the way that he lost a friend. I didn’t lose any friends to death but I had lost friends because I had moved schools when I was younger. They weren’t just any type of friends either, they were really good friends, best friends. So this connects to real life events. I can also connect to Hank because he was one of the kids that would be picked on a little bit and he wasn’t the coolest at all. I was like that when I was little. Nowadays I like to think I’m not the coolest but I’m not lame either. That’s how I connect to Hank in this book.
I really liked this book. I liked this book because it was really good at giving details on what was happening. For example, in the part of the book where the accident at the steel mill happened, the author used words such as melting and sizzled. He used many other words throughout the book that helped me have a better understanding of what was going on. I also enjoyed this book because it talked in the perspective of young men. I could relate to Hank and Billy on some things. My least favorite thing of the book was how sometimes there were some boring parts of the story and it wouldn’t keep me interested.
I connected to Hank in the way that he lost a friend. I didn’t lose any friends to death but I had lost friends because I had moved schools when I was younger. They weren’t just any type of friends either, they were really good friends, best friends. So this connects to real life events. I can also connect to Hank because he was one of the kids that would be picked on a little bit and he wasn’t the coolest at all. I was like that when I was little. Nowadays I like to think I’m not the coolest but I’m not lame either. That’s how I connect to Hank in this book.
I really liked this book. I liked this book because it was really good at giving details on what was happening. For example, in the part of the book where the accident at the steel mill happened, the author used words such as melting and sizzled. He used many other words throughout the book that helped me have a better understanding of what was going on. I also enjoyed this book because it talked in the perspective of young men. I could relate to Hank and Billy on some things. My least favorite thing of the book was how sometimes there were some boring parts of the story and it wouldn’t keep me interested.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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September 12, 2021Note that this is a companion piece to Skurzynski's 1983 title: The Tempering, set in the same town a few years later and stands on its own merits (non-dependent sequel). Effects of war on the homefront.
March 24, 2008
After reading Circle of Blood, I did a little research on Alane Ferguson. I discovered two interesting things: first, her website could use some help; second, her mother is also a prolific young adult author, Gloria Skurzynski.
Good-bye, Billy Radish is my first Skurzynski novel and probably my last. The writing is adequate, but I found myself suffering from a mild case of ennui while reading the book.
The story should have been gripping. Hank is a preteen living in Pennsylvania during WWI. His family works at the local steel mill, and he is terrified at the prospect of working there when he is grown.
Recently, someone asked me what Billy Radish is about. I pondered the question and came up with very little. Ultimately, I settled on two themes; however, I may have forced the interpretations because I wanted the book to have something deep to contribute.
First, I suggest that Hank struggles with the idea of heroism. Are only soldiers heroes? Can reluctant soldiers, or soldiers with questionable characters, still be heroes? And are those that stay behind—the men working in the steel mill—cowards or heroes?
Second, the book shows that even during war, death comes in many forms: battle, industry, influenza.
I shouldn’t have to work so hard to find meaning in a children’s book—and maybe I shouldn’t expect to find something deep. Good-bye, Billy Radish is an adequate read, and I respect Skurzynski for taking on an important historical period. Overall, though, it is far from a thrilling read.
Good-bye, Billy Radish is my first Skurzynski novel and probably my last. The writing is adequate, but I found myself suffering from a mild case of ennui while reading the book.
The story should have been gripping. Hank is a preteen living in Pennsylvania during WWI. His family works at the local steel mill, and he is terrified at the prospect of working there when he is grown.
Recently, someone asked me what Billy Radish is about. I pondered the question and came up with very little. Ultimately, I settled on two themes; however, I may have forced the interpretations because I wanted the book to have something deep to contribute.
First, I suggest that Hank struggles with the idea of heroism. Are only soldiers heroes? Can reluctant soldiers, or soldiers with questionable characters, still be heroes? And are those that stay behind—the men working in the steel mill—cowards or heroes?
Second, the book shows that even during war, death comes in many forms: battle, industry, influenza.
I shouldn’t have to work so hard to find meaning in a children’s book—and maybe I shouldn’t expect to find something deep. Good-bye, Billy Radish is an adequate read, and I respect Skurzynski for taking on an important historical period. Overall, though, it is far from a thrilling read.
October 7, 2013
Hank Kerner and Bazyli Radichevych (Billy Radish) are best friends despite their differences. Hank is an American, and Billy is a Ukrainian immigrant to America. They are in the same grade in school even though Billy is two years older. Billy is also several inches taller and quite a bit heavier. The boys share many adventures. They celebrate each other's birthday. They enjoy a wonderful 4th of July in 1917 cheering the soldiers leaving to fight in WWI, flying small American flags, riding on carnivals rides, and eating hot dogs. At the end of the day Billy fights two ruffians who try to take off Hank's long pants. Hank is saddened when Billy quits school and goes to work in the steel mill. Now the boys only see each other on Billy's shift change day. Their friendship continues. Then, the 1918 influenza epidemic strikes. I read this book several years ago, and I still remember the special friendship these boys shared. Too bad it’s out-of-print. If you can find it, it’s well worth your time!
January 14, 2014
gr 5-7 138 pgs
1917 Canaan, Pennsylvania. 10 year old Hank Kerner and his best friend Bazyli Radichevych who he calls Billy Radish couldn't be more different. Hank's parents were born in American while Billy's family emigrated from Ukraine. Hank is small his age, while most people assume Billy, who is older than Hank, is much older than he actually is. Hank has noticed that lately he and Billy have less in common. Billy looks forward to the day he can start working in the steel mills. After witnessing an accident at the steel mills, Hank is determined to never work there. Hank worries is he losing his best friend or will their friendship continue despite these changes.
Interesting read about life in a steel mill town.
1917 Canaan, Pennsylvania. 10 year old Hank Kerner and his best friend Bazyli Radichevych who he calls Billy Radish couldn't be more different. Hank's parents were born in American while Billy's family emigrated from Ukraine. Hank is small his age, while most people assume Billy, who is older than Hank, is much older than he actually is. Hank has noticed that lately he and Billy have less in common. Billy looks forward to the day he can start working in the steel mills. After witnessing an accident at the steel mills, Hank is determined to never work there. Hank worries is he losing his best friend or will their friendship continue despite these changes.
Interesting read about life in a steel mill town.
July 11, 2009
Not memorable.
November 17, 2008
heart warming story yet some sad parts. i would give this a four star
February 19, 2012
This book is one I copyedited early on in my freelance career. That I still have vivid memories of its story and characters twenty years later shows what a standout it was. Highly recommended!
May 28, 2012
World War I is in full swing and a boy grows up. Good for older kids as some material is of a heavier nature.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews