by Jerry Craft (Author) Jerry Craft (Illustrator)
New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft is back with the newest adventures of Jordan, Drew, Liam, and all the characters that fans first met in New Kid, winner of the Newbery Award and the Coretta Scott King Author Award! In this full-color contemporary graphic novel, the gang from Riverdale Academy Day is heading to Paris, for an international education like you’ve never seen before …
Jordan, Drew, Liam, Maury, and their friends from Riverdale Academy Day School are heading out on a school trip to Paris. As an aspiring artist himself, Jordan can’t wait to see all the amazing art in the famous City of Lights.
But when their trusted faculty guides are replaced at the last minute, the school trip takes an unexpected—and hilarious—turn. Especially when trying to find their way around a foreign city ends up being almost as tricky as navigating the same friendships, fears, and differences that they struggle with at home.
Will Jordan and his friends embrace being exposed to a new language, unfamiliar food, and a different culture? Or will they all end up feeling like the “new kid”?
Don’t miss the two hilarious and powerful companion novels by Jerry Craft, New Kid and Class Act!
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Gr 4-8--As Jordan enters his last year of middle school, he receives an acceptance letter from an art school, which is both exciting and nerve-racking for him: he loves art more than anything, but does he really want to be the new kid once again? Jordan and his friends are overjoyed to learn they'll be taking a school trip to Paris, but when they see that Andy the bully will be joining them, they feel deflated and nervous. In this companion to New Kid and Class Act, the characters that readers love grow and mature while they travel across the globe. The art style stays true to Craft's first two installments, and the creative approach to demonstrating mood and tone shines through in the illustrations. Craft emphasizes racism, classism, and differences in worldview by creating extreme juxtapositions with the roommate pairings on the trip, which also results in comic relief and laugh-out-loud moments. Further, Craft highlights the importance of traveling both physically and metaphorically to build empathy, referencing examples of microaggressions and the dangers of book bans. VERDICT This heartfelt, must-read title belongs on all library shelves, as it beautifully accompanies Craft's first two graphic novels with these characters.--Angie Jameson
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