New Kid

New Kid by Jerry Craft is a 2019 graphic novel and winner of the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jim Callahan is responsible for the coloring. Craft is the creator of the 1990 comic strip Mama’s Boyz, as well as Class Act, the 2020 companion story to this book. New Kid focuses on an artistic middle school student who makes friends and builds confidence in himself as he navigates race and class issues at a prestigious private school.

Plot Summary

Jordan Banks is a middle school student who loves drawing cartoons about his experiences. But he feels he has no control over his life as his parents send him to the prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School (RAD). Its sprawling campus and affluent student body are a world apart from his Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City. The campus impresses him, but he gets lost easily and must deal with a bully, Andy, who mocks his height and makes stereotypical comments about race. Jordan’s father, Chuck, sympathizes with his desire to go to art school and his position as a Black student in a majority white school, while his mother, Ellice, insists he must learn what’s necessary to succeed in a career.