New Kid

mod 6 1 

Bibliography

Jerry Craft. (2019). New Kid. HarperCollins.

ISBN: 9780062691217

Plot Summary

Jordan Banks is a 7th grader from Washington Heights who loves drawing cartoons about his life. His dream was to go to an art school, but his parents enrolled him in a prestigious private school known for academics. Jordan will be one of the few kids of color in his entire grade, which is the complete opposite of his neighborhood. As the school year progresses, he makes friends and he deals with microaggressions from students and teachers. We see his thoughts and views of all this in his drawings and actions. Jordan works hard to navigate his new school culture while keeping his own culture. He becomes torn between the two worlds and will have to find a way to merge them without losing himself.

Critical Analysis

Starting with the cover of the book you can see that the boy is struggling with something and is writing in his book. Looking at it I knew that he was a person of color but I could not have guessed anything else other than new at school. It was not only his life and struggles that we saw; we saw his parents' reactions and struggles. It went to show that it was his whole family that worried about being a part of this new group of people. The story was told in a graphic novel format, which allowed to reader to get a better understanding of the feelings that Jordan was feeling. I noticed that the background color would change to certain colors to match a mood. For example, the dad as the story progresses, his background is always darker colors. To me, that represents the burden he is carrying of not being able to provide fancy things, even though their family is happy and healthy. Jordan sees it too, and at one point even thanks his dad for everything.
The tone of the story balances humor and brings awareness to subtle and systemic racism. The racism that is shown in the story shows how frustrating it is for these boys and how they deal with it when they shouldn’t have to.

Review Excerpts

“Funny, sharp, and totally real! Jordan Banks is the kid everyone will be talking about!” Jeff Kinney, Author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

“New Kid is at once tender and tough, funny and heartbreaking. Hand this to the middle-grade reader in your life right away.”
The New York Times Book Review

Awards and Recognitions

• Winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal

• Winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Author Award

• #1 New York Times Bestseller

• Winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature

• Finalist for Audie Award – Middle Grade Book of the Year

• San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller

• NEIBA, NAIBA, MPIBA, NCIBA, SCIBA and PNBA Bestseller

• Indie Bestseller for Early & Middle Grade Readers

• One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Middle Grade Books of 2019

• New England Independent Booksellers Association Best Children’s Book of 2019

• New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association 2019 Book of the Year for Middle Readers

• Top 10 Spring 2019 Indie Next List Pick

• Amazon Best Book of the Month, Ages 9-12

• 2020 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids Nominee

• 2019 Harvey Award for Best Children’s Book Nominee

• One of Booklist’s 2019 Top 10 Diverse Fiction for Youth

• One of Publishers Weekly’s Most Anticipated Children’s Books, Spring 2019

• #1 Indie Comics & Graphic Works Bestseller

• One of the Best Graphic Novels of 2019 – School Library Journal

• One of the 5 Best Fiction Books of 2019 – Washington Post

• One of the Best Graphic Novels of 2019 – Washington Post

• 2020 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children – Honor Book

• 30 of the Most Influential Children’s Books of All Time – Bookriot.com

• One of the Best Books of the Year – Time.com

• Best Books of 2019 – New York Public Library

• Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2019 – Chicago Public Library

• 25 Best Children’s Books of 2019 – New York Times

• Best Multicultural Children’s Books of 2019 – Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s LiteratureThe Best New Gift Books for Kids – People

• Kirkus – Best Middle Grade Graphic Novels of 2019

• 100 Scope Notes Best Books of 2019

• Shelf Awareness – Best Middle Grade Books of 2019

• Today.com – Best Graphic Novels of 2019

• 2022 Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s  Choice

• 2022 Grand Canyon Reader Award (Arizona)

• 2022 Charlie May Simon Award (Arkansas)

• 2021 Nutmeg Book Award (Connecticut)

• 2020 Connecticut Book Awards (Connecticut)

• Sunshine State Young Readers Award 2020-2021 (Florida)

• 2021 Nene Award (Hawaii)

• 2021 Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book Award (Illinois)

• 2021 Young Hoosier Book Award (Indiana)

• 2020-2021 Iowa Children’s Choice Award (Iowa)

• 2021-2022 Louisiana Readers’ Choice Awards (Louisiana)

• 2021 Maine Student Book Award (Maine)

• 2020 – 2021 Great Lakes Great Books Award (Michigan)

• 2021 Minnesota Youth Reading Award (Minnesota)

• 2019 – 2020 Great Stone Face Children’s Book Award (New Hampshire)

• 2022 North Carolina Children’s Book Award (North Carolina)

• 2021 Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award (Pennsylvania)

• 2020-2021 Volunteer State Book Award (Tennessee)

Connections

• Have students create a drawing to express themselves. This can be done using any program or paper and pencil. 

• Have students talk about cultural code switching and write about if they do it too.