New Kid by Jerry Craft & the educational power of graphic novels

By Rachel Amaru, Co-Founder of Good Trouble For Kids

I never liked comics — I know, that’s weird. But even as a kid, I was never into them. But I have suddenly fallen quite in love with graphic novels, and I really enjoyed this one! I think I first started appreciating the form after reading Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home (not for kids), and I thought John Lewis’ choice to do an autobiography in graphic novel form was genius — such a very cool way of reaching out to multiple audiences and prioritizing youth. (We featured volume 1, March, in our first month).

Perhaps I was not naturally drawn to comics because I was always an avid reader. But that is not the case for all students, and there is something rather miraculous that happens with a graphic novel — at least for me — and that is that I want to read the book in one sitting. Whereas that would be a less likely scenario in a regular 245-page novel, it is suddenly doable with a graphic novel. Craft’s pictures sucked me in, especially the expressions on the characters’ faces. I am used to imagining as I read — what a character looks like, what they’re wearing, where they are, etc. — and the addition of art in a graphic novel of course changes that part of the reading experience. With an artist like Craft, I was surprised by how much it actually enhanced the reading experience for me. In a novel like this one that deals with race, his uses of color to elaborate whiteness and the diversity of Black and brown faces, was particularly intriguing.

What I found most profound about reading New Kid as an adult, white, woman reader who has spent years studying African-American literature, is how naturally and insightfully Craft brings in so many of the antiracist tropes discussed by Ibram X. Kendi and other critical race theorists. I would love to see this book used in place of White Fragility in adult book groups across the country who are embarking on the study of antiracism. We at Good Trouble For Kids are thrilled that your kids are reading and learning from this book. But as I read it, I could not help but think what a huge asset it would be to get this book into the hands of parents who are trying to raise racially conscious children, and who want to understand why antiracism is centering so many discussions.

In a light but provocative way, Craft touches upon all of the following, but I am going to focus only on the first one:

• microaggressions;
• the compulsive need of so many whites to “identify” people whose skin they can’t immediately “read” with the all too commonly asked question: “what are you?”;
• the intersection between white privilege/ white insecurity/ white shame;
• stereotypes (on both sides of the racial divide);
• implicit bias; (you can take an implicit bias test here)
• Black internalized racism. I think James Baldwin best speaks to the tragedy of this:

“You know, it’s not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.”

From Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want To Talk About Race. (NY: Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2019):

“Microaggressions are small daily insults and indignities perpetrated against marginalized or oppressed people because of their affiliation with that marginalized or oppressed group… racial microagressions [are] insults and indignities perpetrated against people of color. But microagressions are more than just annoyances. The cumulative effect of the constant reminders that you are ‘less than’ does real psychological damage. Regular exposure to microaggressions causes a person of color to feel isolated and invalidated. The inability to predict where and when a microaggression may occur leads to hyper vigilance, which can then lead to anxiety disorders and depression. Studies have shown that people subjected to higher levels of micro aggressions are more likely to exhibit the mental and physical symptoms of depression.” (169)

Watch how deftly Key & Peele turn an all too common trope about Black names on its head.

Remember back in 2007 when Joe Biden said this about Obama? “I mean, you’ve got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a story-book, man…”

And Obama came back with this: “I didn’t take Sen. Biden’s comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate . . . African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate.”

Obviously Obama was able to move past this, considering he served with Biden for eight years. Even so, it is an example of the slippage of language, and racially coded language, that in certain situations has the potential to cause a great deal of harm. I would say this is particularly true with younger people beginning to navigate racially conscious territory — especially a person of color in a majority white and privileged white environment (e.g., Jordan), and the chasm that can exist between what someone may intend and what they actually say.

Jerry Craft’s New Kid is a good, fun read for you and for your middle schoolers. It is also offers insight into how to discuss antiracism and education — whether your kids go to public or private schools. This review of Ibram X. Kendi’s How To Be An Antiracist speaks specifically to how educators can become a part of the work of being an antiracist and the need to address systems and policies. As an aside, this is also the first graphic novel to ever receive the Newbery Medal “for the most distinguished American children’s book.” We are thrilled to feature it!

Originally published on Story Remedy and Good Trouble For Kids.