Jerry Craft

Jerry Craft is the author of the graphic novel New Kid. He has worked on numerous picture books, graphic novels, and middle grade novels. He is also the creator of Mama’s Boyz, a syndicated comic strip. He is a cofounder of the Schomburg Center’s Annual Black Comic Book Festival. With Class Act (Quill Tree Books) New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft returns with a companion book to New Kid. 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’s grandmother has reminded him his entire life that “You have to work twice as hard to be just as good.” But what if he works ten times as hard and still doesn’t get the same opportunities that his privileged classmates at the Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted? Worse still, Drew begins to feel his good friend Liam might be one of those kids and now their mutual friend Jordan doesn’t know how to keep the group together. Will Drew find a way to bridge the divide so he and his friends can truly accept each other? Will he finally be able to accept himself? Kirkus Reviews in a starred review called it “A well-Crafted, visually rich, truth-telling tale for our troubled times that affirms the eternal importance of friends.”