New York
Times bestselling author Jerry Craft returns with a companion book
to New Kid, winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal, the Coretta
Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize. This time, it’s Jordan’s friend
Drew who takes center stage in another laugh-out-loud funny, powerful, and
important story about being one of the few kids of color in a prestigious
private school.
Eighth
grader Drew Ellis is no stranger to the saying “You have to work twice as hard
to be just as good.” His grandmother has reminded him his entire life. But what
if he works ten times as hard and still isn’t afforded the
same opportunities that his privileged classmates at the Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted?
To make matters worse, Drew begins to feel as if his good
friend Liam might be one of those privileged kids. He wants to pretend like
everything is fine, but it's hard not to withdraw, and even their mutual friend
Jordan doesn't know how to keep the group together.
As the
pressures mount, will Drew find a way to bridge the divide so he and his
friends can truly accept each other? And most important, will he finally be
able to accept himself?
New Kid, the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal, is now joined by Jerry Craft's powerful Class Act.
“A moving and often very funny story about the convergence of an awkward age (13 to 14) with an awkward age (America’s racial reckoning)…. [Craft] balances his biting sendup of American race relations with poignant family portraits, and the art is most striking in quiet moments.”