Gr 4–8—The fast-paced, riotously funny sequel to New Kid follows aspiring artist Jordan and best friends Liam and
Drew as they begin eighth grade at New York City's upscale Riverdale Academy Day School. This time, the
narrative prioritizes darker-skinned Drew's perspective, juxtaposing full-color artwork with Jordan's grayscale
cartoons to illustrate issues of race, class, and plain old pubescence.

Once again Jerry Craft does a wonderful job portraying questions about identuty, race, class, parent expectations, and school pressures for middle school readers. In this sequel to New Kid, we get to know more about Drew -- Jordan's friend from Riverdale Academy. Drew is feeling the pressure to fit in and to figure out where he fits. Can he be friends with classmates who just don't understand or can't seem to understand what it means to be Black? Classmates who come from more privledge and wealth?

Jerry Craft gets the voice of his characters spot on -kids, parents and teachers. The adults mean well and some help Drew, Jordan, and friends find naviagte the school year. Other adults miss the boat entirely. Love how Craft nods his head to other popular graphic novels and authors. ( )

Representation: Black main character

7/10, very humorous. ( )

At Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan and his pals embark on a new school year with many hopes and concerns, particularly wondering if this year will be like the previous one or not.

This book is called a "companion" novel to New Kid, but it's pretty much a sequel. The cover makes you think it's from the perspective of Jordan's friend Drew, but it's still more or less Jordan's story. However, we definitely do see more of Drew as he navigates being one of the few Black students at the prestigious school, having complex feelings about one of his friends being much wealthier than his own family (and neighborhood), handling a school girl's crush on him, and dealing with covert and not-so-covert racism from those who are well meaning and those who are not.

As may be clear by now, this book handles lots of difficult topics. It manages to do so with humor at all the right times and in a way that is likely relatable to many middle-grade readers, even if their circumstances might be slightly different. There's a clear love of children's comics, with each chapter's cover page being an homage to a different popular graphic novel, such as Amulet, Ghosts, Hey, Kiddo, and more. The illustrations are the right blend of cartoon-ish and naturalistic to capture the realism while still maintaining the fun, quick pace. ( )

I knew there was going to be big shoes to fill going into Class Act. After all, when your predecessor is a Newbery award winner, how can it not be? Well, while I did prefer New Kid, I think Class Act is an excellent book as well.

We follow many of the same kids from Class Act; they are just one year older. However racial concerns, comments, people trying to not offend.....all of it plays a role. I could identify with characters who overthink what they say in case it comes off racist (and thus by doing so they unfortunately made it racist). I also appreciated the storylines of characters wondering about the other's perceived stereotypes and being afraid to show their true colors because of said stereotypes. I feel that resonates with people across ALL races.

One thing Jerry Craft does is he pays homage to many other graphic novel writers in his "chapter headings." Anyone familiar with graphic novels will see inspiration drawn from Dav Pilkey, Raina Telgemeier, Shannon Hale, and so many others....it brought a smile to my face every time.

I want to see what middle grade readers think of this book. And I also can't help but wonder if come next month it will generate award buzz too. ( )