New Kid

Based on his own experiences as a young Black teen, Craft wrote and illustrated this Newbery winning graphic novel about Jordan Banks, an artistic seventh grader who struggles to fit in at his brand new, prestigious prep school. My kids loved reading about Jordan’s journey to find a place for himself among his nearly all white peer group. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, smart, and insightful. Craft was befuddled upon hearing his book was banned for espousing critical race theory, saying: “I just wanted to have [Black] kids where the biggest dilemma in their life is if they wanted to play PlayStation or Xbox, or what movie they wanted to go see, you know, as opposed to always having the weight of the world.”