Class Act by Jerry Craft (review)

Craft, Jerry Class Act; written and illus. by Jerry Craft. Quill Tree/Harper Collins, 2020 [256p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780062885517 $22.99 Paper ed. ISBN 9780062885500 $12.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780062885524 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 5-9

Fans of Craft's graphic novel New Kid (BCCB 1/19) will rip right in to this sequel about life at Riverdale Academy Day School. Although the previous book's protagonist Jordan acts as narrator and, through his sketchbook insets, social critic, the central drama focuses on Drew, who enters eighth grade with a new hairstyle, a taller build, and some understandable perplexity about navigating friendships and looming life decisions within the context of being a dark-skinned young Black man in a largely white school. Craft approaches Drew's—and his devoted friends'—dilemmas with candor and respect, allowing Drew the distance he needs to establish interpersonal relationships on his own terms, not those of classmates and family, or even of readers. Craft's mastery of humor genres from speedy one-offs to situational comedy to cleverly discomfiting satire will give readers of varying comedic taste opportunities to laugh out loud. There's also tenderness, though, in Drew's relationship with his grandmother, and there's high tension when Jordan's father is pulled over by the police. This is solidly within the wheelhouse of middle school comics aficionados, who will appreciate the chapter-opening parodies of cover art from the current GN canon. Kids who missed volume one can dive in here and backtrack later; kids already on board will identify episodes and new characters around which they can build hope for a third entry.