New Kid

Title: New Kid
Author/Illustrator: Jerry Craft
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Awards: Newbery Medal (2020), Coretta Scott King Award (author, 2020)
Grade Level: 4 - 8

Jordan Banks loves to draw and wants to go to an art school, but his parents enroll him into Riverdale Academy Day School, a private school known for its academics. He lives in Washington Heights but his new school is in Riverdale. There is a large contrast between the communities and he finds out that he is one of the few students of color in the seventh grade and feels distant from the others. He does befriend Liam Landers, who showed him around the school, and Drew Ellis, the other new kid of color. He finds it difficult to adjust and accept his new school as he feels torn between his neighborhood friends and middle school friends. Despite having to deal with some racial prejudice and normal middle school turmoil, by the end of the school year, Jordan becomes more open to new experiences, more confident, and more accepting of both worlds and people in his life. 

New Kid is a graphic novel that humorously and realistically portrays the life of a middle schooler trying to fit into his new school. It addresses relevant issues such as differences in socioeconomic status, racial stereotypes, and bullying. The graphic novel format allows readers to see the story in a way that a traditional book can not. Throughout the book, there are some pages of Jordan's sketchbook which give more insight into Jordan and his inner thoughts. This would be a good book to introduce to students so they can be interested in reading and use it to discuss how conflicts in the story reflect real life. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Because of Winn-Dixie

Image
Title:  Because of Winn-Dixie Author:  Kate DiCamillo Genre:  Realistic Fiction Awards:  Texas Bluebonnet Winner (2001-2002), Newbery Honor (2001) Grade Level:  3 - 6 Opal Buloni finds a stray dog and names him Winn-Dixie after the grocery store she found him in. She recently moved to Naomi, Florida with her preacher father. She had a distant relationship with her father because he was too invested in his work to give her attention. Opal longed for her mother to return even though she was an alcoholic, had disliked her life as a preacher's wife, and had abandoned them when Opal was young. She was lonely in her new town and Winn-Dixie followed her everywhere. Around town, she met new people such as Miss Franny Block, Sweetie Pie, Otis, and Gloria Dump who shared their stories. Opal learns that everyone has a little sadness and sorrow in their lives and that they could still be trying to cope with it. Opal arranged a party with Gloria and invited some people she h...
Read more

Once a Mouse...

Image
Title:  Once a Mouse... Author/ Illustrator:  Marcia Brown Genre:  Traditional Literature Awards:  Caldecott Medal (1962) Grade Level:  PK-2 Based on an ancient Indian fable, a hermit saves a little mouse from a crow. Then, a cat approaches the mouse. But with his magic power, the hermit transforms the little mouse into a cat. Later, a dog appears and the hermit turns the cat, once a mouse, into a big dog. A tiger attacks the dog, but once again, the hermit changes the dog into a tiger. This new tiger is prideful and believes he is the king of the forest above all the other animals. The hermit reminds him of his humble origin as a little mouse, but he is offended and plans to kill the man. Reading the ungrateful tiger's mind, the hermit turns the tiger back into his original state and shuns him.  With its distinct, red, yellow, and brown woodcut illustrations and simple message to be humble and grateful, I would use this book with younger elementary student...
Read more

Mouse's First Christmas

Image
Title:  Mouse's First Christmas Author:  Lauren Thompson Illustrator:  Buket Erdogan Genre:  Fantasy Awards:  N/A Grade Level:  PK - K Mouse goes around the house on his first Christmas night. He discovers new things commonly found in the Christmas season such as cookies, decorations, presents, and Santa Claus. This book could be read before the winter holiday to early elementary students. It has a repetitive text structure with two adjective words describing the object followed by "It was..." and has large illustrations. The words identifying the object described it often written in the form of the object such as "It was a candy cane." is curved like a candy cane. Reading the descriptive words, students can infer what that object could be. Students could use descriptive words to describe other objects for others to identify. 
Read more