Sons help father craft a better novel

Author draws on his childhood and love of comics to make ‘New Kid’ playful but also serious

JERRY Craft credits his two sons, both in university, with helping him to write a better graphic novel.

He had shown his boys the early draft of a tense scene in New Kid. But when he saw their disappointed faces, he knew he had to “do better,” he said.

Craft wanted to get the scene right because the main character, Jordan Banks, is a lot like his sons and himself as a boy. As an African-American kid, Jordan has to figure out how to fit in at a private school where most of the pupils are wealthy and white.

That was Craft’s experience, too. Like the character he created, he switched to a posh school very different from the school close to his neighbourhood in New York City.

Being the new kid isn’t easy, as many kids know. But Craft gave his character a trait that had helped him as a kid: a love of drawing. It’s an important part of Jordan’s identity and Craft’s, too. “I can’t remember a time I wasn’t drawing,” he said.

As a kid, Craft preferred Spider-Man comics to serious novels that won awards. With New Kid, he decided to create the kind of book he wanted to read as a boy.

Craft wanted his work to be funny, like the Wimpy Kid series, but he wanted to explore serious stuff, too, including stereotypes related to race and income.

Fitting in while staying true to oneself isn’t easy for Jordan and his friends at his new school. When he takes the bus in the morning, Jordan starts out looking tough in a hoodie and shades and gradually removes them as the bus gets closer to school – a routine Craft based on his own experience.

Craft’s characters connect with people of all ages. “Kids write to me but so do teachers and principals,” he said. “They tell me the book has helped them to become more aware of how they might type students without even realising it.”

Craft uses close-ups, long-shots, bird’s-eye view and other angles to make his art dynamic. Reading his book is like watching a movie on the page.

He learned these skills over time, through college classes and jobs in advertising and with Marvel Comics. He also illustrated picture books and novels and created a popular comic strip called

Mama’s Boyz.

Because he likes to think about the visual impact of words – not just their meaning but their shape and size – Craft created the unique font seen in New Kid. – Washington Post

PICTURES: HARPERCOLLINS Author Jerry Craft, like his novel’s main character, was a black boy who had to figure out how to fit in at a school with mostly whites.