New Kid is the story of Jordan, a young black boy in 7th grade who is leaving his home school and traveling across town to attend a rather expensive private school. At Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan finds himself one of the few students of colour and he finds the difference between being at school and traveling home to be quite different. Jordan isn't really sure who he should be, or how he should be acting. His parents also have different opinions on the benefits of being at Riverdale. Throughout the story, Jordan needs to learn how to stay true to himself and his family, but also learn to navigate different perspectives and opinions of the people (both students and adults) at school.
One of the things I liked about this story was that Jordan is an artist and there are times throughout the story that Jordan sketches his feelings about events taking place. Many of his drawings made me laugh out loud. I also really liked the way micro-aggressions were brought up in the story- I think this book would make a great read aloud for grade 7 & 8 (and younger). Right now this book is one I would like to see my whole school read aloud in the fall- I just have to figure out how to do that with a graphic novel...any thoughts on that?
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