Book Club Guide

New Kid

by Jerry Craft · 2019 · Literary Fiction

Key themes

Code-switching — the exhausting work of being yourself in two different worlds
Microaggressions rendered visually — what the graphic format can show that prose sometimes can't
The first graphic novel to win the Newbery — what this milestone means

About this book

Jordan Banks, a Black seventh-grader who would rather draw cartoons than attend a prestigious mostly-white private school, navigates the daily friction of being one of the few kids of colour in his class. Craft's graphic novel won the Newbery Medal — the first graphic novel to do so — for its honest, funny depiction of code-switching and microaggressions.

Published in 2019, New Kid won the Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award and the Kirkus Prize — the first graphic novel to win the Newbery. Craft drew on his own experience attending a predominantly white private school in New York.

Discussion questions

Jordan navigates being one of few Black students at a predominantly white private school while his neighbourhood friends attend public school. How does Craft develop this double life — and what does Jordan lose and gain in each world?
The graphic novel format allows Craft to show visual jokes, exaggerations and asides that comment on the 'main' narrative. How does this layered visual approach work — and what would be lost in prose?
The novel addresses microaggressions — teachers mispronouncing names, assumptions about behaviour — with humour rather than anger. How does this comic register affect how the critique lands?
Jordan's passion for drawing runs through the book, including his own comics about his experience. What does this metafictional layer add?
New Kid was the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal. What does this recognition mean for the graphic novel form in children's literature — and does New Kid demonstrate what the format can do that prose cannot?