New Kid

Craft, J., & Callahan, J. (2019). New kid. Harper.

Genre: Middle Grade Graphic Novel

     Jordan Banks is a Black kid going to a new school that has a primarily White student body. He becomes friends with a White student named Liam and a Black student named Drew. The book follows him through the entire school year and discusses issues of race. Throughout the book, Jordan faces a lot of microaggressions; people in the wealthier neighborhood avoid him on the train, his classmates stare at him when learning about slavery, and they will also call him the name of other Black students. The teacher, Ms. Rawle often acts as a symbol of ignorance in the book. She often picks on Drew: often misnaming him throughout most of the year and initially blaming him when the school bully, Andy, falls during a shoving match that Andy starts. Near the end of the book, Ms. Rawle confronts Jordan after she reads his private sketchbook, a sketchbook in which he vents about all of the problems in the school. Jordan points out that he's not attacking the school, all of those things actually happen.