New Kid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids  |
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| Author | Jerry Craft |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Harper Collins |
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Publication date
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February 5, 2019 |
| Pages | 256 |
| Awards | Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Award |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-269120-0 |
New Kid is a 2019 graphic novel by Jerry Craft. The novel tells the story of a 12-year-old black boy, Jordan Banks, who experiences culture shock when he enrolls at a private school. Taking place over Jordan's freshman year at a prestigious private school, he has to adjust to a new school, experiences and witnesses microaggressions, and makes friends with other students. The book is semi-autobiographical for Craft, who based the book on his experiences in a private school and those of his two sons. While he wishes the book to be appreciated by a wide range of readers, Craft particularly wanted it to accurately reflect a present day African American experience.
The book was well received by critics, sold well, and won the 2020 Kirkus Prize, Newbery Medal, and Coretta Scott King Award. It was the first graphic novel to be awarded the Newbery Medal. The book's illustrations, using a unique amount of graphical styles, helped to achieve a balance between the book's humorous and dramatic elements. Its critical and award success was viewed at the time as an important achievement for graphic novels.
Plot
12-year-old Jordan Banks is a black boy who lives in Washington Heights. Jordan loves art and wishes to go to art school. Instead, his mother makes him go to Riverdale Academy Day (RAD) School, which she calls "one of the best schools in the state". However, RAD is not a very diverse school, having few students of color.
During his first day at Riverdale, Jordan is overwhelmed. He is helped by Liam Landers, a fellow student assigned to be Jordan's guide, and whose family has attended RAD for 3 generations. The two become friends. Jordan meets a variety of other students at the school, including Andy Peterson, an obnoxious jock; Alexandra, who always wears a sock puppet on her hand; DeAndre (one of the few other African American students at RAD), Winston, and Eric, three sophomores of often pick on lower grade students; and Drew Ellis and Maury, who are two of the few other African American students at RAD.
Jordan has some difficulties adjusting to RAD. These include discomfort over where to sit at lunch and not knowing how to act when a friend from the neighborhood sees him with Liam. Further challenges occur when his advisor discusses students on financial aid and calls Drew by the name of DeAndre. Jordan discovers that this kind of mislabeling happens to other black students and faculty at the school, even a black teacher who has been at the school for fourteen years.
Things start to slowly improve for Jordan. Forced to play a team sport for the first time, Jordan chooses soccer and struggles with the rules and the temperature, but scores an accidental goal in his first game. He also is able to have honest conversations with Drew about what it's like to be one of the few African Americans at RAD. His friendship with Liam also deepens including over video games. After a discussion with his grandfather, Jordan successfully mixes his neighborhood and school friends through video games. However, after Jordan corrects his neighborhood friends' grammar they give him the nickname "Private School".
There continue to be ups and downs for Jordan at school academically and socially. At first, Jordan dislikes his art teacher, though later he comes to appreciate what he's learning. While waiting to be picked up one day, Jordan learns that Alexandra wears a sock puppet because she doesn't want anyone to see the burns on her hand; through a bit of trickery Jordan gets the information about Alexandra's burn out which causes her to become more accepted by her peers. After ongoing tension between Jordan, Drew, and Andy, Andy dares Jordan and Drew to join the baseball team, which they do. When Drew and Andy get into an argument in the cafeteria, Andy slips on an apple and falls, but Drew is initially accused of pushing him. However, Jordan and several other classmates stick-up for Drew, stopping him from being disciplined.
As the school year draws to a close, Jordan's illustration is picked for the cover of the yearbook. Drew, Liam, and Jordan have become good friends and on the last day of school Jordan even dresses like Liam as a joke. Drew remains unsure if he'll return to RAD, almost having been suspended for the argument with Andy despite making the honor roll each semester. The book ends with Jordan with his neighborhood friends as they start their summer vacation.
Background and release
Author Jerry Craft described wanting to put as much into the book as he could, as he was unsure if he'd get a similar opportunity in the future, "By the end it was like overpacking a suitcase — I had to kind of sit on it to zip it up, because I was trying to put so much in for so many different people." He expressed appreciation for the support his publisher, HarperCollins, gave him in trying to execute this vision.
Riverdale Academy Day School is loosely based on Ethical Culture Fieldston School which Craft attended for high school. Craft also cited Schoolhouse Rock! and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as inspirations. He hoped that kids and adults would find the book equally entertaining. His goal with New Kid was to create a character in Jordan with universal appeal. However, writing a book that reflected the modern African American experience for African American readers was at the heart of why Craft wanted to write the book. Craft credits his experience as a syndicated cartoonist with giving him experience to make the book humorous. It was important to Craft that the book was funny because, "I think that as a people we have gotten so complacent in misery that we almost expect it" when it comes to portrays of African Americans. He felt his cartoon work also gave him experience in tackling serious topics in "palatable" ways.
The character of Jordan draws on traits from both Craft and his two sons. Craft also drew on his sons' experiences in private schools. He made some major revisions to the book after showing it to his two college aged children. His son's experiences were important in helping in Craft's goal of having a contemporary rather than historical setting. Craft talked with some of the teachers who he'd parodied who expressed that they learned something after reading the book.
The book and audiobook were published February 5, 2019.
Themes
The book explores identity, cross-racial friendships, and the effects of microaggressions. By having Jordan get along better with Drew than Murray, Craft wished to show that friendships don't have to be based solely on race. Elizabeth Bird, writing for School Library Journal, writes that, "Craft gathers together every possible microaggression in his arsenal and weaves them into a comprehensive story." She goes on to write about the various ways that well meaning adults and obnoxious children can make a school uncomfortable for minorities.
It also works as a traditional coming of age and school story. Author Katie Egan writing in School Library Journal writes, "Craft has taken the daily dramas of middle school life (cafeteria hierarchy, social anxieties, and tween hallway banter) to an arresting and devastatingly accurate new level." In the New York Times, author Victoria Jamieson notes that Jordan has to find his own way between his neighborhood and his school with his parents giving different examples of what that can look like; his mom works in the corporate world, while his dad runs a community center. Jamieson also cites the advice Jordan's grandfather gives him.
Writing and illustrations
The graphic novel format allows for extra content for readers to interpret the actions and intents of the characters. It can also show how Jordan is feeling, as when he is shown to be the size of an ant when he first enters the cafeteria. The book uses a variety of graphic styles, including black and white drawings to represent Jordan's sketchbook, and full-color graphics with extra design elements like emojis, in other places. Each new chapter is introduced through a humorous two-page spread. Such humorous elements also help to provide balance for the serious elements of the story.
Critics felt that some elements of the book worked better than others. Bird noted the episodic format of the book and how certain plot points seemed underdeveloped or unrealistic. Gretchen Hardin in School Library Journal praised the black and white drawings for the expressive way they develop Jordan's character while suggesting that "the art loses a bit of detail during crowd scenes."
