More than 20 years ago, Jerry Craft tried to publish his first book and got nothing but rejections. All of them hurt, but a few were particularly harsh. “Some editors took the time to say, ‘Listen, this is not good now, and it’ll never be good,’ ” Craft recalls. “They were so discouraging that I gave up on ever trying to be traditionally published.”

But Craft wouldn’t give up on his art. He decided to self-publish and started his own company. Aspiring writers sent him their manuscripts; Craft read them, edited them, illustrated them, got them printed and bound. “Between the books I did for myself and the books I did for others, I probably did over three dozen books over a 20-year span,” he says.

Craft’s first graphic novel, New Kid, found a home at Harper, a traditional publishing house. It found acclaim, too, winning the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature. In its starred review, Kirkus calls New Kid an “engrossing, humorous, and vitally important graphic novel that should be required reading in every middle school in America.” In their statement, the Kirkus Prize judges called it “a laugh-out-loud combination of art and story that showcases the beauty of graphic novels.”

The protagonist of New Kid is Jordan Banks, an African American boy growing up in Washington Heights. When Jordan’s parents enroll him in Riverdale Academy Day School, an upscale and predominantly white prep school, Jordan wonders if he can belong to both worlds: his familiar neighborhood and the unfamiliar academy.

The book is informed by Craft’s own experience attending Fieldston, an independent school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. For Craft, who grew up in Washington Heights, the transition to a prestigious private school wasn’t easy. “My parents had no idea what awaited me,” Craft says.

Craft and his wife, who live in Connecticut, sent both of their sons to a private school in New Canaan. “Our sons had the benefit of my wife and I being private school kids,” he says. “We were able to sit down and say, OK, this is what’s going to happen. The first time [the teachers] talk about Black History Month or civil rights, the other kids are going to turn and stare at you.”

Though New Kid deals frankly with race, it’s largely about being a middle school kid. “I always wanted to have African American kids as regular kids…who didn’t have the weight of the world” on their shoulders. “I didn’t want another gritty book. When you read books featuring people of color, you expect something bad to happen to a character you love.”

Craft occasionally interrupts the main story with excerpts from Jordan’s sketchbook. One page, “Judging Kids by the Covers of Their Books,” makes fun of those “gritty” titles by making one up: The Mean Streets of South Uptown,in which “DaQuell ‘Scooter’ Jackson must decide if he will pursue his dream of being in the NBA or join a notorious gang.”

Another sketchbook page presents “Jordan’s Tips for Taking the Bus,” a sequence of panels that takes us through the neighborhoods of his commute:

Fitting in on the ride to school is hard work! I have to be like a chameleon. For example, in Washington Heights, I try to look tough.

Inwood is a little different, so I can lose the hood.

Kingsbridge is where all the public school kids get off, so it’s okay to take off my shades. I can even draw!

Last comes Riverdale, where I do my best not to look cool AT ALL!...I don’t even like to draw ’cause people might think I’m going to use the markers to “tag the bus”!

Jordan’s drawings are black and white, with looser lines to suggest he’s still fleshing out his impressions. The pages contrast nicely with the colorful, carefully arranged panels of the principle story, told in illustrations that capture Jordan’s perspective by zooming out for wider views of scene and ensemble, then zooming in for intimate close-ups. Sometimes, Jordan’s subjectivity even warps the visual landscape in wonderfully provocative ways.

A few years ago, Craft began to see signs that the publishing industry was changing. There were more opportunities for new voices. In 2014, Scholastic asked him to illustrate Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Patrik Henry Bass. Craft noticed the We Need Diverse Books campaign and the #ownvoices hashtag; he saw the success of other writers of color—Kwame Alexander, Jason Reynolds, Derek Barnes, Eric Velasquez. Their books, like Craft’s, were about regular kids—“not based on misery,” he says. He decided to try again. He pitched his book, and this time, the feedback was positive. He turned the feedback into edits; he found an agent. The book landed at Harper Collins. Now, it’s winning awards.

There’s more of Jordan’s story to tell: A New Kid sequel is coming at the end of 2020, and Craft has a trilogy planned. He has more to teach, too. He credits the television programs of his youth—Fat Albert, Schoolhouse Rock—with helping him discover his own artistic mission: to entertain and educate. “It’s very difficult for me to write something that doesn’t teach,” he says. And what’s Craft’s lesson? Kindness, above all. “We could all do a little better to make each other feel a lot better,” he says.

Walker Rutter-Bowman is a writer and teacher living in Washington, D.C. New Kid received a starred review in the Nov. 1, 2018, issue.