Day 17 of Summer 2019 #Bookaday Challenge: New Kid

Slide 1: Hi! My name is Kate Narita, author of 100 Bugs! A Counting Book and fourth grade teacher. This is day seventeen of my 2019 #Bookaday Challenge. I will be talking about New Kid by Jerry Craft.

Slide 2: New Kid is a graphic novel. Graphic novels are important to have in your classroom because they support visual learners, speakers of other languages and students with dyslexia. But that’s not the only reason why you should have New Kid in your classroom. New Kid is a great novel to have in your classroom because it talks about the challenges of fitting in, what to do when a parent doesn’t support your passion, having grandparents as mentors, it looks at ethnic slurs and finally it talks about what to do when you have an unsupportive authority figure in school.

Slide 3: Smile by Raina Teglemeier is an excellent graphic novel to have in hand. The main character, Raina, also struggles to fit in just like Jordan does in his new school.

Slide 4: Another book in the same vein is El Deafo by Cece Bell. She, too, is struggling to fit in at a new school.
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Slide 5: I mentioned that New Kid talks about what to do when it seems like the parent doesn’t support your passion. In The Night Diary, not the main character but the main character’s twin also faces the same problem. He loves to draw and his father doesn’t celebrate this fact and in the New Kid, Jordan really wants to attend a school that focuses on the arts and instead he’s at a fancy prep school. There definitely is a parallel there.

Slide 6: The book that New Kid most reminded me of is The First Rule of Punk by Celia Perez. In The First Rule of Punk, Malu, that’s the main character finds a mentor not in her grandparent but in her friend’s grandparent. In New Kid, Jordan looks to his grandfather as a mentor.

Also, in The First Rule of Punk the ethnic slur coconut is discussed. It’s used to describe Malu. There is her nemesis that says Malu is a coconut—she looks Hispanic on the outside but acts like a Caucasian on the inside. In New Kid, an ethnic slur isn’t used against the main character, Jordan, but an ethnic slur is used for another child of African-American descent, Maury. They call him Maury-o, and that’s in reference to the ethnic slur Oreo. Both of these books look specifically at ethnic slurs.

Finally, in The First Rule of Punk the school administration doesn’t support Malu’s desire to showcase her punk rock band at the school talent show. She has to figure out a way to work around the system that’s discriminating against her. In the New Kid there is a teacher who doesn’t take the time to learn the names of the students of color. She doesn’t realize how racist she is. One day she comes across Jordan’s notebook and he’s drawn cartoon caricatures of her. This leads to a very important discussion between Jordan and the teacher.

Slide 7: I always like to throw in a picture book in my recommendations. My favorite graphic novel style picture book is Blackout by John Rocco. What I think is important about Blackout is that there is a non-binary main character. When I read this book with my students I always ask them if they think the main character is a boy or a girl and why. It’s really interesting to hear their responses.

Slide 8: I do have one word of caution against having New Kid in your classroom. This is definitely something I’ll be discussing with my students. The author makes a joke about anaphylactic shock and having had a child who almost went into anaphylactic shock I can assure you that it’s really not funny. Also, as a teacher I always have one student who has an Epipen, and I value the lives of all my students. Although anaphylactic shock is not as widespread of a problem as gun violence, it’s something that should be taken seriously. So, if we use this book in my classroom or in our Project Lit Book Club, we’ll definitely be discussing this issue.