Class Act
by Jerry Craft
Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins), 2020. 250 pages.
Review written March 20, 2021, from a library book
Class Act calls itself a “Companion to the Newbery Medal Winner New Kid,” so I won’t call it a sequel, but it does tell about Jordan Banks’ second year at a private school outside his neighborhood, where he’s one of a few African American kids. The publisher is right, though, that you won’t feel lost if you didn’t read the first graphic novel, or if it’s been a while. The author is good at catching the reader up.
And this time, besides following Jordan’s story, we also follow two of his friends – Drew, whose skin is darker than Jordan’s and faces more discrimination, and Liam, who is white and rich, but whose parents are never around.
This year Jordan’s bothered that he doesn’t seem to be growing and developing like his friends are doing, and he doesn’t want to stay a little kid forever. He also is afraid that drawing his comics is babyish and wonders if he should go to art school next year.
For all of them, there’s still discrimination to navigate, and friendships, and girls, and what kids in the neighborhood think of them going to a private school. I liked the part where a mean kid accidentally got his skin dyed green with unwashable dye for Halloween – and thus became a person of color temporarily. The teachers are trying to figure out how to be sensitive to diversity – with mixed results.
The chapter break pages refer to other published books. It starts out with mostly children’s graphic novel references but includes some adult novels as well. I didn’t quite understand the point of doing this, though it was fun for me to recognize the books.
The story is good, and it’s great to have another graphic novel with Black kids as the protagonists. There’s no doubt in my mind that kids will happily scoop this up and be glad they did.
jerrycraft.com
harperalley.com
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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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