That’s why it has always been important to me to show kids of color as just regular kids, and to create iconic African American characters like Jordan Banks from New Kid. I hope that readers of all ages will see the kindness and understanding that my characters exhibit and emulate those feelings in their day-to-day lives. Books aimed at kids like me seemed to deal only with history or misery. But through it all, what has not changed are my goals for my books: helping kids become the kind of readers that I never was letting kids see themselves on my pages and showing kids of color as just regular kids.Īs an African American boy who grew up in Washington Heights in New York City, I almost never saw kids like me in any of the books assigned to me in school.

Many aspects of my life have changed drastically since my book New Kid became the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal. While the statement does not make any direct mention of the events in Katy, TX, it stresses that the experiences Jordan has in New Kid were inspired by Craft’s own experiences growing up: Yesterday, Craft issued a statement via the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Soon after Katy ISD cancelled the scheduled Craft presentation, and pulled both of Craft’s books from their libraries “pending the outcome of a review committee.” Anderson created a petition on that garnered 500 signatures before being pulled by the platform for violating the site’s terms of service. Now both books have been pulled from a Texas school district’s libraries, and a speaking event with Craft scheduled for earlier this week was cancelled, after parents expressed concerns over the themes present in the books.Įarlier this week the Houston Chronicle reported that the Katy Independent School District in Katy, TX had cancelled a planned Zoom chat between Craft and a group of 3rd through 5th graders after Bonnie Anderson, the mother of a student, read both New Kid and Class Act and determined that the books espoused Critical Race Theory, the academic study of systemic racism within the United States.

A sequel graphic novel, Class Act, was released in 2020, and quickly shot to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list and found its way onto a number of year-end “Best Of” lists. Cartoonist Jerry Craft‘s middle grade graphic novel, New Kid, was released in 2019, and last year became the first graphic novel ever to be awarded the John Newbery Medal as “the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year.” The graphic novel follows seventh-grader Jordan as he enters a new school and finds himself one of only a few students of color in his class.

Class act book jerry craft