Middle Grade Monday: School Trip by Jerry Craft

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

School Trip by Jerry Craft. 256 p. Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins Publishers, April, 2023. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Oops! Forgot to post this yesterday! Happy Monday! What an awful, rainy weekend! Driving in the rain is just the pits and I had to drive to and from Massachusetts this  weekend! Thank goodness it was for a happy event and I had an excellent audiobook (tune in on Tuesday). 

Since TMS is winding down class trip season, now seems to be a good day to feature School Trip by Jerry Craft for Middle Grade Monday. Jordan is finishing eighth grade at Riverdale Middle School. He's excited for his upcoming school trip to Paris. He and his friends have plans to room together and roam the City of Lights. They don't count on their fave teachers not being able to make the trip nor are they happy that Andy will be a roommate. When Jordan receives an acceptance letter to his dream art school, he surprised that his joy is tempered with worry.

This third installment in the New Kid series is just as insightful, hilarious and endearing as the two previous books, the Newbery-winning, New Kid and Class Act. Happy reading and happy May Day!

Middle Grade Monday: Class Act by Jerry Craft

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Class Act by Jerry Craft. 256 p. Quill Tree Books/ HarperCollins Publishers, October, 2020. 9780062885510. (Review of finished purchased copy.)

Happy Monday! I hope you enjoyed the amazing weekend! After five days of rain, Saturday was brilliantly sunny and I spent the day raking and blowing all the leaves that came down with the rain while listening to an audiobook. I finished on Sunday before the wind and rain combined forces to bring more leaves (and some neighborhood trees) down, obliterating the work I did. Such is autumn.

Middle Grade Monday features Class Act by Jerry Craft. This is the sequel to his Newbery-winning, and I believe MG debut, New Kid. Jordan returns to ritzy RAD for his second year. He's now an eighth grader. He notes all the changes among his classmates, Drew got taller and sports a new haircut that attracts unwanted attention and touching. Liam remains oblivious to his own white privilege, though we do learn thanks to the triple POV of this graphic novel, that life at home is not great. He's closer to his driver than his own dad. We also learn more about Drew and his home life. The school administration has launched a diversity initiative that is laughably inept. 

Mr. Craft seamlessly weaves serious issues, such as racism, microagressions and classism into an engaging text that never feels burdened by the messages. The full-color art just pops. The chapter breaks contain amusing parodies of popular graphic novels that most gn fans will recognize and an an Easter egg that is metaphorical genius and absolutely tickles.

Class Act is an absolute must-purchase. You'd do well to buy more than one copy.

Middle Grade Monday and arc review: Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Image: LBYR

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes. 234 p. Little, Brown and Company, March, 2020. 9780316493802. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher, ALAMW)

Middle Grade Monday features Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Donte acknowledges his privilege. He lives with two loving parents in a nice house, in a nice town. He actually likes his parents. They can afford to send him to a private school to get the best possible education. Still, he would prefer to be back in his old neighborhood in New York City because, as one of few black students at Middlefield Prep, he experiences outright racism and micro-aggressions daily. According to his teachers, he is just not fitting in. Not like his brother, Trey. Trey fits in. While both boys are biracial, Trey's skin color favors their's dad and Donte's favors their mom. 

When Donte gets arrested and suspended from school, he's in a bad head space despite the support and love of his family. He wants to get back at his main tormenter. But how? He has to do it in a way that won't get him in trouble. Donte decides on the fencing mat. Alan is captain of the fencing team. Does Donte have the stuff?

Jewell Parker Rhodes delivers another solid, engaging middle grade story that deftly presents a myriad of issues without feeling issue-laden. And she does so in just over 200 pages! I was fully invested and taken by Donte's voice from page one and read it in one sitting. I would love to reread this with my ears if there are plans for an audiobook. I am also eager to see the finished copy and its art. Terrific read! I can't wait to share this with my students who are fans of hers. 

Teen Tuesday: Fence by C.S. Pacat

Image: Boom Studios

Fence by C.S. Pacat. Illustrated by Johanna the Mad. With Rebecca Nalty. Fence series #1. 112 p. Boom Studios, July, 2018. 9781684151929. (Review of finished copy borrowed from public library.)

Teen Tuesday features Fence by C.S. Pacat. This is book one of a planned ten-book graphic novel series featuring sixteen year old Nicolas Cox, an untrained fencer with so much raw talent he is accepted into an elite private school to train and fence. His roommate is an aloof and unfriendly fencing phenom. This brilliantly illustrated graphic novel brings the fast paced intensity of fencing to life.

Books one and two were on display at my town library so I grabbed them and fell in love. I don't know why this series isn't getting much attention. I can't wait for the next installments to drop. 

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: New Kid by Jerry Craft

New Kid by Jerry Craft. 226 p. HarperCollins Publisher, February 5, 2019. 9780062691194. (Review from arc courtesy of publisher.)

Middle Grade Monday features New Kid by Jerry Craft. This graphic novel follows Jordan Banks, a kid from Washington Heights (Manhattan), who would rather be getting ready to apply to an art high school than attending a snooty prep school in Riverdale (Bronx), but does so to please his parents. He's a scholarship student who travels via public transportation while his classmates arrive in all sorts of high end vehicles, some actually driven by chauffeurs. He's one of the few kids of color and is chagrined when teachers often call him by the wrong name. While he does make a few friends, he deals with assumptions and micro-aggressions all day and they are exhausting; as is the code-switching he does traveling to and from school. He pours his observations into his sketchbook.

The art is energetic and vibrant. The dialogue rings true. Jordan is likable, bright and an astute social observer. There are moments of humor but also head-desk moments of bias. Readers will root for him as he navigates two worlds. New Kid is a must-purchase addition to any public, school or classroom library collection.