Whenever white racist fascists object to a book, I immediately move it to the top of the my to-read list.NBC News on October 6, 2021 (archived) reported that:
A school district near Houston canceled the appearance of an award-winning children's illustrator and author, whose books tell stories about Black children struggling to fit into unfamiliar settings, amid claims of critical race theory.
The writer, Jerry Craft, had been set to appear virtually Monday before students and staff members at Roosevelt Alexander Elementary School until the Katy Independent School District pulled the plug after some parents objected.
So I got Jerry Craft's graphic novel New Kid from my public library, preparing to read a story of armed insurrection à la Nat Turner or at least a revenge fantasy like Django Unchained (2012). I mean, parents wouldn't mobilize against a book which didn't at least feature a few murders of police officers & riots which targeted some chain stores, right?
Instead, I found an uplifting, sensitive story of a child navigating his first year at a new school where staff and students made assumptions about him based on his race and class while realizing that his own parents had encountered similar issues in their professional lives. Far from being a story of alienation, the protagonist makes friends, does well in school, plays some sports and realizes other achievements, and neither the Black Panthers nor Al Sharpton were needed to protect him.
The text is wry and subtle, and the artwork adds layers in a way which has made me give up my previous prejudices against the graphic novel.
Thanks, again, advocates of censorship! (Here's another from my county!) Your recommendations never fail to reveal great content.
And just so nobody is confused, I think it's perfectly OK for kids to read books about Nat Turner, the Black Panthers and Al Sharpton.
P.S. Dr. Matthew Teutsch, who teaches literature classes to those training to become professional educators, also wrote about this book. He also wrote about the comic book Django Unchained.
