# New Kid

**Author:** Jerry Craft
**Grade range:** Grades 4–8
**Age range:** 8–13
**First published:** 2019
**Page count:** 256
**Genre:** Middle Grade Graphic Novel
**ISBN-13:** `9780062691194`
**ISBN-10:** `0062691198`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/new-kid
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Jordan Banks, one of the few Black kids at a prestigious private school, navigates microaggressions and identity in the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal (2020). The book has been widely assigned in 5th-7th grade ELA and is also among the most-challenged graphic novels in US schools per PEN America's index, frequently cited for its discussion of race.

## Themes

- race and identity
- code-switching
- middle school adjustment
- graphic narrative
- private vs public school
- friendship

## Content notes

- microaggressions
- discussion of racism

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 9+

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: CCSS ELA grades 4-5 contemporary graphic-novel Newbery Medal](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: CCSS ELA grades 6-8 graphic-novel exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · New York — [source: NY Next Gen Standards grade 6 — NYC-set graphic novel](https://www.nysed.gov/)

## Banned / challenged record

Documented removals or formal challenges in at least one school district in 4 states: TX, OK, FL, TN. Source: [PEN America's Index of School Book Bans](https://pen.org/banned-book-list/) 2022-2024.

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/new-kid._