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Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2019

Kirkus Prize winner

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From the New Kid series , Vol. 1

by Jerry Craft ; illustrated by Jerry Craft with color by Jim Callahan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 5, 2019

An engrossing, humorous, and vitally important graphic novel that should be required reading in every middle school in...

Jordan Banks takes readers down the rabbit hole and into his mostly white prep school in this heartbreakingly accurate middle-grade tale of race, class, microaggressions, and the quest for self-identity.

He may be the new kid, but as an African-American boy from Washington Heights, that stigma entails so much more than getting lost on the way to homeroom. Riverdale Academy Day School, located at the opposite end of Manhattan, is a world away, and Jordan finds himself a stranger in a foreign land, where pink clothing is called salmon, white administrators mistake a veteran African-American teacher for the football coach, and white classmates ape African-American Vernacular English to make themselves sound cool. Jordan’s a gifted artist, and his drawings blend with the narrative to give readers a full sense of his two worlds and his methods of coping with existing in between. Craft skillfully employs the graphic-novel format to its full advantage, giving his readers a delightful and authentic cast of characters who, along with New York itself, pop off the page with vibrancy and nuance. Shrinking Jordan to ant-sized proportions upon his entering the school cafeteria, for instance, transforms the lunchroom into a grotesque Wonderland in which his lack of social standing becomes visually arresting and viscerally uncomfortable.

Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-06-269120-0

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | GENERAL GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS

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by Jerry Craft ; illustrated by Jerry Craft

by Patrik Henry Bass ; illustrated by Jerry Craft

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PERSPECTIVES

SEEN & HEARD

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

From the school for good and evil series , vol. 1.

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013

Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.

Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.

Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and  her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).

Pub Date: May 14, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2

Page Count: 496

Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

More In The Series

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno

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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by RaidesArt

by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Julia Iredale

BOOK TO SCREEN

NOWHERE BOY

by Katherine Marsh ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 7, 2018

A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high...

Two parallel stories, one of a Syrian boy from Aleppo fleeing war, and another of a white American boy, son of a NATO contractor, dealing with the challenges of growing up, intersect at a house in Brussels.

Ahmed lost his father while crossing the Mediterranean. Alone and broke in Europe, he takes things into his own hands to get to safety but ends up having to hide in the basement of a residential house. After months of hiding, he is discovered by Max, a boy of similar age and parallel high integrity and courage, who is experiencing his own set of troubles learning a new language, moving to a new country, and being teased at school. In an unexpected turn of events, the two boys and their new friends Farah, a Muslim Belgian girl, and Oscar, a white Belgian boy, successfully scheme for Ahmed to go to school while he remains in hiding the rest of the time. What is at stake for Ahmed is immense, and so is the risk to everyone involved. Marsh invites art and history to motivate her protagonists, drawing parallels to gentiles who protected Jews fleeing Nazi terror and citing present-day political news. This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace.

Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-250-30757-6

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

More by Katherine Marsh

by Katherine Marsh

by Katherine Marsh ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

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#1 New York Times  Bestseller

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About the Book

Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang,  New Kid  is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real, from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft.

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

Universal Pictures has acquired film rights to  New Kid , with LeBron James’ The Spring Hill Company on board to develop and produce. Craft will be an Executive Producer.

Awards & Recognition

Winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal Winner of the 2020 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Author Award #1 New York Times Bestseller Winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers’ Literature Finalist for Audie Award – Middle Grade Book of the Year San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller Indie Bestseller for Early & Middle Grade Readers One of Publishers Weekly ’s Best Middle Grade Books of 2019 New England Independent Booksellers Association Best Children’s Book of 2019 New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association 2019 Book of the Year for Middle Readers Top 10 Spring 2019 Indie Next List Pick Amazon Best Book of the Month, Ages 9-12 2019 Harvey Award for Best Children’s Book Nominee One of Booklist ’s 2019 Top 10 Diverse Fiction for Youth One of P ublishers Weekly ’s Most Anticipated Children’s Books, Spring 2019 #1 Indie Comics & Graphic Works Bestseller One of the Best Graphic Novels of 2019 – School Library Journal One of the 5 Best Fiction Books of 2019 – Washington Post One of the Best Graphic Novels of 2019 – Washington Post 2020 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children – Honor Book One of the Best Books of the Year – Time.com Best Books of 2019 – New York Public Library Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2019 – Chicago Public Library 25 Best Children’s Books of 2019 – New York Times Best Multicultural Children’s Books of 2019 – Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature The Best New Gift Books for Kids – People

“Funny, sharp, and totally real! Jordan Banks is the kid everyone will be talking about!” —Jeff Kinney, Author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

“ New Kid is at once tender and tough, funny and heartbreaking. Hand this to the middle-grade reader in your life right away.” — The New York Times Book Review

“Possibly one of the most important graphic novels of the year.” —Booklist (starred review)

“An engrossing, humorous, and vitally important graphic novel that should be required reading in every middle school in America.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“This is more than a story about being the new kid—it’s a complex examination of the micro- and macroaggressions that Jordan endures from classmates and teachers. Highly recommended for all middle grade shelves.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“Award-winning author/illustrator Jerry Craft confronts elitism, microaggression, racism, socioeconomic disparity and white privilege in a familiar setting… Presented in predominantly full-color, richly saturated panels, Craft distinguishes Jordan’s sketchbook entries in black-and-white pencil drawings, their stark simplicity underscoring their uncomplicated wisdom…. Preteen audiences will undoubtedly recognize and empathize with Craft’s memorable cast.” — Shelf Awareness , Starred Review

“This engaging story offers an authentic secondary cast and captures the high jinks of middle schoolers and the tensions that come with being a person of color in a traditionally white space.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Genuine characters propel this funny, warm, biting, fearless story. Entertaining and insightful, it will surely offer affirmation for some readers, revelation for others.” —Cooperative Children’s Book Center

“Craft’s full-color comics art is dynamic and expressive, generously adorned by emojis, arrows, and imaginative elements such as the small winged cherubs who frequently hover over Jordan’s shoulders; each chapter is introduced by a witty, foreshadowing double-page spread. This school story stands out as a robust, contemporary depiction of a preteen navigating sometimes hostile spaces yet staying true to himself thanks to friends, family, and art.” — The Horn Book Magazine

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Word of Mouth

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Poignant, quirky and insightful, Jerry Craft’s graphic novel NEW KID is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel about a thoughtful and creative young boy named Jordan, and his struggle to fit in. Craft explores tough themes like privilege, bias and racism through his big-hearted protagonist for a story that is as heartfelt as it is powerful.

Jordan, who loves to draw cartoons about his life, is entering the seventh grade at a new school --- a preparatory private middle school towns away from his own neighborhood and friends. That’s not all: Jordan will also be coming from a diverse school to one where he is one of the only students of color. The change of scenery leads to a series of new interactions, friendships and life lessons that our dear protagonist is ill-prepared for, but he comes out stronger for it. Told in a graphic novel format interspersed with Jordan’s own drawings, NEW KID centers primarily around Jordan learning to navigate through a world of primarily white privilege and upper class learning having come from a lower middle class area and seeing the differences between the two, and also sometimes the similarities.

"Craft explores tough themes like privilege, bias and racism through his big-hearted protagonist for a story that is as heartfelt as it is powerful."

Early on, the micro-aggressions and passive aggressive acts of racism become immediately apparent. For example, Jordan has to contend with a teacher who mixes up names between him and another black student who looks nothing like him. This other student tends to occasionally act up and behave more playfully and even disruptively, but this same teacher projects her feelings about that student onto Jordan. Readers will immediately sympathize with Jordan, who feels too young to have to deal with these sorts of feelings, but is, in fact, a prime example of the world our children are growing up in.

At the same time, a “cool kid” named Andy in Jordan’s class thinks it’s funny to mock other students based around their heritage and doesn’t see how his actions are racist. He introduces himself by first asking Jordan what sport he plays and immediately asks “And what are you anyway?” in reference to Jordan’s racial background. Throughout it all, Jordan is forced to contend with an environment that is supposed to be “better” for him, even while its inhabitants are passive-aggressively and openly rude to him and his heritage.

It may sound like the easiest solution would be for Jordan to return home to Washington Heights and his old school, but as time goes on, Jordan has a tough time fitting in with his old friends, too. The educational resource divide between private and public schools sets him apart from everything and everyone he has known, and Jordan starts to feel like he does not fit in anywhere. In a particularly poignant moment, Jordan is forced to recognize his own biases and confront them --- in a beautiful move by Craft, Jordan uses this moment to stand up as a leader, and he begins to call out the injustices he sees.

Craft’s art is fantastic --- he intertwines pop culture and his own art in very fun ways, referencing popular movies in each chapter. Jordan’s own art allows us to see his internal monologues and the ways the outside world is really affecting him. Together, Craft’s and “Jordan’s” art combine to make a book that is visually fun, and not just based on its complex themes.

Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, NEW KID is a painfully timely and wonderfully honest graphic novel about tough themes like diversity, racism and the struggle all kids feel to fit in. This is a book that will start conversations in middle schools all over the country --- about how we can recognize our own biases, start to break them down and ultimately create a better world for our youth.

Reviewed by Matthew Burbridge on February 26, 2019

New Kid written and illustrated by Jerry Craft

• Publication Date: February 5, 2019
• Genres: Fiction , Graphic Novel
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• ISBN-10: 0062691198
• ISBN-13: 9780062691194

Homeschools »

2020 Newbery Award Winner Book Review: New Kid

(Note: It is not the purpose of this review to draw conclusions for the reader but rather to focus on literary elements and topics of importance for the Christian audience.)

New Kid , written and illustrated by Jerry Craft, is the recipient of the ALA’s 2020 Newbery Award. 1 Mr. Craft is an award-winning writer, illustrator, and cartoonist (the creator of the comic strip Mama’s Boyz ), and New Kid demonstrates his skill in each of these fields. In his virtual Newbery acceptance speech, he said, “I wanted to create stories that show the side of African American life that isn’t steeped in misery. A book that kids of color can proudly embrace, and that other kids can still relate to." 2

This graphic novel is a school story that examines the insecurities, challenges, and downright awkwardness that middle school students are familiar with. Twelve-year-old Jordan is the only son in a two-parent home, and he lives in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City where he has always attended his neighborhood elementary school. But in the new school year, he will be attending an elite private school. This will require a bus ride to and from along with other adjustments he’s not thrilled about.

Jordan’s initial struggle is that he wants to go to art school, but his parents are sending him to Riverdale Academy, a school with a strong emphasis on academics. They hope this will give him a solid foundation that will serve him well in the future. The opening days in the new school feature universal experiences—locating his classroom in unfamiliar buildings, meeting new people in and out of the classroom, understanding the pecking order that manifests itself in ways like who gets the best tables in the cafeteria, navigating the stereotypes seen by others (many of them false), and more. Andy, the football quarterback, tells Jordan to stay away from the anime dorks, show-offs, computer geeks, awkward kids, other new kids, and Liam, the king of the dorks who also happens to be the student guide assigned to Jordan to show him the ropes. The verbiage in school stories changes from one generation to the next, but the problems have much in common.

So far, this is a recognizable story, but the author adds a layer. In this loosely autobiographical story, Craft tackles the issues Jordan faces as a black boy in a white world, particularly in a school where racial diversity is nearly nonexistent. For example, when Jordan leaves with Liam for a tour of the new school, Jordan’s father assures a neighbor that his son is not being arrested. 3 And when the character named Maury joins the cast of the story, his head is illustrated as an Oreo with captions that read “black on the outside,” “white on the inside." 4 These issues and more could open discussions at a time when the United States is wrestling to find productive ways to address racial unrest.

Jordan is an intelligent, kind boy. He communicates well with his parents, leans on the wisdom of his grandfather, and tries hard to make the best of the difficult situation he finds himself in. He is guarded in the beginning of the book (who wouldn’t be under similar circumstances?), but he grows as a character as the book progresses. He finds his place; he defends the vulnerable; he befriends the lone and the lonely. He questions the stereotypes, attempts to make good choices, and works to succeed in his new school. He’s a likeable kid.

Jordan’s school, like most schools, is a microcosm of a larger community. His school has much good to offer through solid academics, social interaction, and extracurricular learning. But because schools in general have people who teach other people, the humanity of it all means both negative and positive elements can be found, and Jordan’s school has its fair share of both. This leads to the overarching theme of New Kid —in a word, “differences.” Differences can be the cause of detrimental, demeaning, or diminishing words and actions, and no one is in favor of that. But with a shift in focus, the very same differences can lead to perceptive understanding of others which leads to the potential of unity in a school (and hopefully beyond) because of, not in spite of, the differences.

Mr. Craft has covered a lot of ground in this book, and his approach could have given Jordan’s situation a lack of focus or resulted in chaotic storytelling, and yet Craft avoids both concerns and succeeds in telling a cohesive story that is both interesting and pertinent.

He interjects several two-page spreads on a variety of topics from shaking hands to judging kids by the covers of their books to losing your family’s culture, and more. These spreads are presented as Jordan’s own illustrated observations; remember, Jordan is an artist.

The author titles each chapter with an interesting riff on book, movie, and TV titles, which perhaps carry more meaning for readers older than the targeted 8–12 age bracket printed on the back cover. For example, chapter one turns Sun Tzu’s The Art of War into “The War of Art,” a fitting title for Jordan’s school struggles. Chapter five morphs Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love into “Cleats, Play, and Gloves,” a chapter on school sports.

This Newbery winner has a strong message filled with an abundance of talking points that are summed up by Jordan’s friend Drew. He says to the obnoxious Andy, “I couldn’t care less about baseball! What I DO care about is that you think you can say and do whatever you want to people. And no one ever calls you out on it!" 5 Being called out may not lead to comfortable conversations, but if it leads to an understanding that we need to emulate our God in treating others without partiality or hypocrisy (James 3:17) or that we are called to “live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18), New Kid will have opened worthy conversations.

1 http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal 2 https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=2020-newbery-medal-acceptance-by-jerry-craft#:~:text=I%20will%20never%20cease%20to,imagination%20would%20not%20have%20predicted 3 Jerry Craft. New Kid (New York: HarperCollins, 2019), 14. 4 Craft, 26. 5 Craft, 199.

  by Nancy Lohr.

New Kid Book Review

• Author Jerry Craft
• Publisher Quill Tree Books
• Published 2/05/2019

Hello! So today, I am doing another review! I mean, what did you expect? For this week, I’ll be doing a previous Battle of the Books book, New Kid by Jerry Craft. This one is a bit different than the other books I’ve reviewed on the podcast.

Instead of being a novel, which I usually read, this is a graphic novel! Or a comic book if that’s what you want to call it. I hope everyone enjoys this week’s episode, and here we go!

The Book Review Podcast

The graphic novel by Jerry Craft is a story about our protagonist, Jordan Banks, and his journey through seventh grade. He originally wanted to go to an art school because that’s what Jordan is passionate about: Art!

He loves sketching and drawing and doing art-related stuff. Unfortunately for him, his mother has different ideas for him. Jordan’s mom wants him to attend this new school that is all about academics, Riverdale Academy Day School.

Even though Jordan isn’t the happiest about the decision, he has to go anyway. Jordan has to “survive” seventh grade being the new kid.

The story teaches the readings about stereotypes; for example, an incident happens with one of Jordan’s new friends, Drew and secret Santa.

But I’ll let you read about that. We follow Jordan as he meets new friends, some exciting challenges, and realizes the importance of not judging a book by its cover.

Author Praise

Jerry Craft makes this story so animated, not literally, but it looks enjoyable! It’s very fun to read and relate to Jordan because I’ve been in a situation where I was the new kid.

Also, the moral or the message Jerry is trying to give is very important for readers to understand, and I give him kudos for that!

Basic Facts

• The book is 256 pages long
• There are 14 chapters, though there is no table of contents
• This book was the first and only, at the moment, graphics novel to win a John Newberry Award! Isn’t that crazy?
• The author is Jerry Craft
• The publishing brand is Harper Collins

What is My Rating?

If I had to rate this book out of five, it would be a solid 5. I really like the message and the characters Jerry makes in try story. It’s funny and super enjoyable to read.

The art is lively and super colorful. It’s overall a great story to read about and learn from. I really enjoyed this book. And that’s why I’m giving it a 5-star rating!

Would I Recommend?

If I had to recommend this book, I would be happy to! It’s a quick read, for me, and j think it’s worth it to read.

As I’ve mentioned, it’s funny, relatable, lively, and can teach a great lesson! Totally recommend a lot of my friends who are interested in books because it’s a great read.

Highlights Segment

Time for the highlights time! There actually won’t be any spoilers this time so go ahead and enjoy spoiler free!

• I overall really enjoyed how Jerry added little segments where Jordan would sketch out a page where Jordan would be explaining things, for example, the handshake, the dude pyramid, and so much more!
• The humor is super great in this book and I love it so much. It really addresses the problem of stereotypes in a fun and enjoyable way for people to really understand it. Especially from Jordan’s point of view as a person of color.
• I love the friendship Drew and Jordan have, they have a lot in common and can relate to one another which shows that even when you don’t think you fit in, there’s someone that can make you feel better.

Character Thoughts

Finally, character thoughts! My favorite! As you may have heard, this books main topic is about stereotypes and judging people by there looks. Along with bullying.

So we have a variety of characters in this book that do different things. We can tell Andy is that kind of bully that jokes around and thinks that he’s being funny, but is really hurting people’s feelings.

At the moment, I can’t really give a character that is my least favorite, (yes, Andy is mean but not my least favorite) but I can say that Jordan is a great character.

He has flaws, yes, but he has some great personality traits that are important for a realistic character.

Also, little honorable mention for Alexandra because she did play a good role in the book.

Thank You For Listening!

I hope you enjoyed. This graphic novel was great to review in this week’s episode! So, I hope you take the time to check it out. Alrighty, here’s the end of our episode!

About Jerry Craft

JERRY CRAFT is an author and illustrator. New Kid is his middle grade graphic novel that has earned five starred reviews, including one from Booklist magazine, which called it “possibly one of the most important graphic novels of the year.” Kirkus Reviews called it “an engrossing, humorous, and vitally important graphic novel that should be required reading in every middle school in America.”He is the creator of Mama’s Boyz, a comic strip that was distributed by King Features Syndicate from 1995-2013, and won five African American Literary Awards. Jerry is a co-founder of the Schomburg’s Annual Black Comic Book Festival. He was born in Harlem and grew up in nearby Washington Heights. He is a graduate of The Fieldston School and received his B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts.

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Book Review

• Jerry Craft
• Graphic Novel , Humor

Readability Age Range

• 8 to 12 years old
• Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books
• Coretta Scott King Book Award, 2020; Newbery Medal, 2020

Year Published

In New Kid by Jerry Craft, Jordan Banks starts middle school at a wealthy academy that has few other African-Americans. He strives to fit in while encountering ignorance and prejudice.

Plot Summary

In this graphic novel, Jordan Banks is an African-American seventh grader from Washington Heights in New York. Not only is he just starting his middle school career, but his parents have enrolled him at a wealthy private academy called Riverdale. He doesn’t know anyone there, and all but a handful of the students and staff are white.

Jordan feels the pressure to change his persona even on the bus ride from his side of town to Riverdale. He quickly discovers his classmates and teachers have many stereotypes when it comes to people of color. A few kids are overtly rude, but most people are simply ignorant or thoughtless. Bullies nickname an African-American boy from a wealthy family “Oreo,” because they meanly say “he’s Black outside and white inside.”

Other kids assume a Nicaraguan boy is Mexican. Some students stereotypically presuppose that Black children all like basketball and fried chicken, and that they’re being raised by single mothers. Teachers accidentally mix up Black students’ names, as though they can’t tell the difference between them. An administrator even does this to an African-American teacher he’s known for fourteen years.

Another teacher tries so hard to practice ethnic sensitivity that he can hardly say a word without apologizing for his potentially racist remarks. Jordan and his new friend, Drew, feel embarrassed whenever their status as financial aid recipients is mentioned. At a book fair, the librarian proudly directs Jordan and Drew to the historical African-American literature section she’s set up just for them. She doesn’t understand they like the same contemporary novels their white peers read.

After attending a school meeting, Jordan’s parents tell him they understand some of his dilemmas. His mother, who works for a magazine where she’s one of the few African-Americans, says she’s had to learn to “play the game.” Jordan’s dad left a similar career because he didn’t like having to deal with racial inequity and didn’t feel he should have to.

Jordan’s dad grapples with inadequacy after dropping Jordan at the mansion of his wealthy white friend, Liam. Liam gives Jordan an expensive Christmas gift. Jordan hides it from his parents so they won’t feel bad about their less-expensive presents.

Jordan sometimes struggles to stay connected with his neighborhood friends. They deal with problems such as kids bringing guns to school. Jordan’s classmates are only concerned about their next exotic vacations.

As time passes, Jordan finds ways to connect with both his old and new friends. His art teacher opens his eyes to new painting techniques at which he thrives. He demonstrates kindness to misfit students and a bully who has harassed him for months. At the end of the year, Jordan tells his parents that he has become a new kid.

Christian Beliefs

Other belief systems, authority roles.

Jordan’s parents try to give him opportunities to see beyond life in his own neighborhood. Dad struggles with feelings of inadequacy when he can’t offer Jordan the luxuries his classmates enjoy. Some school staff members make little effort to see beyond color with their black students and employees. Other white teachers try too hard to appear racially open-minded to the point of making things awkward.

Profanity & Violence

Sexual content, discussion topics.

What are some of the new and challenging experiences Jordan faces all at once? When have you attended a new school, moved to a different town or began a new activity? What were you feeling during this time? What helped you get through it?

Why do you think some of the teachers and students treat Jordan and Drew so differently than the white students? Are these individuals mean on purpose, or do they just fail to understand people of other races? Explain your answer. What are some practical ways you can be sensitive and respectful to people from different cultures or backgrounds?

When have you become friends with someone of a different race, nationality or social class? What did you learn as you got to know them?

Why is Jordan nice to Andy in the end, even though the bully has been mean to him all year? How does the Bible tell us we should treat our enemies? When have you shown kindness to an enemy?

How does Jordan change during the course of his bus rides from home to school? When have you felt the need change your personality to fit in with different groups of people? Why did you think you had to act like someone else in these circumstances?

Additional Comments

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] . Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.

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Speed Interview with Author-Illustrator Jerry Craft

The Children’s Book Review

The Children’s Book Review: Which five words best describe  New Kid ?

Jerry Craft: Funny, Thought-Provoking, Conversation-Starter, Honest, Comforting

(I know technically that’s seven words, but I’m hoping the judges will rule in my favor.)

Can you share a highlight from the book? Or maybe your thoughts on, or an excerpt of, your favorite sentence, paragraph, or page?

One of my favorite scenes from New Kid  is when Jordan Banks is waiting for his Dad (who is running late) to pick him up (pages 180-187). Then, to make matters worse, it begins to rain. But just when Jordan thinks that it can’t get any worse . . . BAM! Here comes Alexandra, the kid who everyone thinks is probably the weirdest kid in the whole grade. And she sits down next to him. The only good thing is that she offers to share her umbrella.

I like this scene because I “Crafted it” (pun intended) to take my readers through a whole range of emotions. First, it’s the awkwardness of having to talk to someone who you really don’t want to talk to. Then there’s the slow realization that maybe it’s not as bad as you thought. And finally, there’s the comfort that happens when you open your mind, and your heart, to see who that person really is! And that many of your preconceived notions couldn’t be further from the truth. I think that’s an important lesson for both kids, and adults, to learn. Plus I put in one silly panel to get my readers to laugh and relax.

If you had to take a vacation with one of the characters from  New Kid , who would it be? Why?

Well, it wouldn’t be Andy, that’s for sure. I think I’d jump out the plane before reaching our destination.  

Jordan would be cool, because we’d spend the day drawing. Liam would also be a good choice. But I think I’d pick Drew because he’s always aware of his surroundings, and is very protective of his friends. So he’d allow me to let my guard down long enough to enjoy the vacation.

What has been the best reaction from a reader , so far?

I have had such AMAZING reactions that it’s difficult to choose. I’ve already gotten emails from moms whose kids have told them, “I am Jordan Banks,” which continues to give me goosebumps. Every day since the book launched on February 5 has been like Christmas morning to me. I open up my email and never know what is waiting for me, but it’s already been a magnificent journey.

I’ve received emails from kids saying how much they love the book. And from parents who are stunned that their supposedly “reluctant readers” read the book three times in ONE DAY!

And I’ve seen fan drawings of the characters all over social media.

BUT, if I had to choose ONE, it was this message that I got from a mom: “My son was at your event today. He has autism and usually has difficulty with crowds. His teacher told me he was so excited to meet you and was able to ask you a few questions! Thank you for doing something as small as answering a question, it meant a great deal to my son! Thank you!”

And what made it even more special was that she sent me a photo of her son holding the book.

What’s on your nightstand? Any books?

I just picked up a copy of Betty Before  X by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson. Renée is one of my favorite authors. And I always keep a copy of Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library , which is illustrated by Eric Velasquez, my friend and a fantastic illustrator.

For your writing energy: sugar or salt, tea or coffee?

Neither and neither. I keep almonds and dates on my desk. And I usually have water or a container of whatever I’ve juiced that morning.

Creative tools: computer, pen and paper, or all of the above?

I did New Kid  exclusively in Photoshop.

Can you tell us one more thing we may not know about New Kid ,  your writing style, or yourself?

The house where Jordan Banks lives is actually the house that I grew up in. I also used a lot of my childhood friends’ names throughout the book, as well as named Jordan’s old school after my editor, St. Harwell’s. My agent’s and lots of former classmates’ names are in there as well. So I guess I’ll be able to see who actually reads the book.

Written and Illustrated by Jerry Craft

Publisher’s Synopsis:  Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real, from award-winning author-illustrator Jerry Craft.

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

Ages 8-12 | Publisher: HarperCollins | February 5, 2019 | ISBN-13: 978-0062691200

Available Here:

About the Author

Jerry Craft is an author and illustrator who has worked on numerous picture books, graphic novels, and middle grade novels, including The Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Patrik Henry Bass. Jerry is the creator of Mama’s Boyz , an award-winning syndicated comic strip. He has won five African American Literary Awards, and he is a cofounder of the Schomburg Center’s Annual Black Comic Book Festival. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and now lives in Connecticut. Visit him online at www.jerrycraft.net .

This speed interview with Jerry Craft, author-illustrator of New Kid , was conducted by Bianca Schulze. For similar books and articles, follow along with our content tagged with Diversity , Friendship , Graphic Novel , Jerry Craft , Middle School , and New Kid At School .

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Bianca Schulze is the founder of The Children’s Book Review. She is a reader, reviewer, mother and children’s book lover. She also has a decade’s worth of experience working with children in the great outdoors. Combined with her love of books and experience as a children’s specialist bookseller, the goal is to share her passion for children’s literature to grow readers. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, she now lives with her husband and three children near Boulder, Colorado.

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New Kid : Book summary and reviews of New Kid by Jerry Craft

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

by Jerry Craft

Critics' Opinion:

Readers' rating:

Published Feb 2019 256 pages Genre: Graphic Novels Publication Information

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About this book

Book summary.

New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel about starting over at a new school where diversity is low and the struggle to fit in is real

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds—and not really fitting into either one. Can Jordan learn to navigate his new school culture while keeping his neighborhood friends and staying true to himself?

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Book Awards

Media reviews, reader reviews.

"This engaging story offers an authentic secondary cast and captures the high jinks of middle schoolers and the tensions that come with being a person of color in a traditionally white space." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Possibly one of the most important graphic novels of the year." - Booklist (starred review) "An engrossing, humorous, and vitally important graphic novel that should be required reading in every middle school in America." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "This is more than a story about being the new kid—it's a complex examination of the micro- and macroaggressions that Jordan endures from classmates and teachers. Highly recommended for all middle grade shelves." - School Library Journal (starred review) "Craft's full-color comics art is dynamic and expressive. This school story stands out as a robust, contemporary depiction of a preteen navigating sometimes hostile spaces yet staying true to himself thanks to friends, family, and art." - Horn Book Magazine "Genuine characters propel this funny, warm, biting, fearless story. Entertaining and insightful, it will surely offer affirmation for some readers, revelation for others." - Cooperative Children's Book Center "New Kid is at once tender and tough, funny and heartbreaking. Hand this to the middle-grade reader in your life right away." - The New York Times Book Review "An honest and compelling read for any kid looking for a place to belong." - Scholastic Teacher Magazine "Funny, sharp, and totally real! Jordan Banks is the kid everyone will be talking about!" - Jeff Kinney, Author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Author Information

Jerry craft.

Jerry Craft is an author and illustrator who has worked on numerous picture books, graphic novels, and middle grade novels, including The Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Patrik Henry Bass. Jerry is the creator of Mama's Boyz , an award-winning syndicated comic strip. He has won five African American Literary Awards, and he is a co founder of the Schomburg Center's Annual Black Comic Book Festival. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and now lives in Connecticut. Visit him online at www.jerrycraft.com.

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• Oct 30, 2021

Book Review: New Kid

Image courtesy of JerryCraft.com - full reference included in Citations section.

Genre / Category:

Fiction > Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Age Rating:

Middle Grades (3rd – 7th grade)

Twelve-year-old Jordan Banks finds himself in a new and very different world when he enrolls in the Riverdale Academy Day School, the best private school in the state. While adjusting to his new environment, Jordan meets new friends, navigates the social pitfalls of middle school, and grapples with integrating the elements of his “old” and “new” lives.

Justification:

I chose New Kid as my Coretta Scott King award-winning selection, although that is far from the only prize awarded to this novel. New Kid was also named the 2020 Kirkus Prize Winner and received the 2020 Newbery Medal – becoming the first graphic novel to do so.

Evaluation:

When I originally chose the books I planned to read in this course, I thought Eleanor & Park would be my only banned / challenged book selection. On October 6, 2021, I was surprised to read that New Kid had been challenged by a parent in Katy ISD for, according to the parent, teaching “critical race theory” (Li, 2021, para 1). Although the book was reviewed and reinstated by the district a week later, the experience is strangely apropos for the subject of the book itself. Through his use of dynamic art, a familiar plot, and uniquely believable characters, author Jerry Craft tells a story that is as beautiful and authentic as it is distressing to the conservative reaches of the Houston suburbs.

Although I am an admitted lover of words, I do not think that New Kid would have been as emotionally impactful as a text-only novel. The story panels burst with expressive, active imagery – the characters are full of movement and emotion that highlights and heightens the accompanying text. When one particular event early in the protagonist’s, Jordan’s, experience at Riverdale Academy Day School (RAD) makes him feel vulnerable and small, Craft shows him as a mouse, tiny and exposed in a world of giant feet. The text identifies the social misstep and Jordan’s response to it, while the image immediately gives the reader that flash of hot shame that results from such situations in real life. A variety of Jordan’s sketches are interspersed with the story panels, adding levity at strategic moments throughout the tale, while also deepening the audience’s understanding of his personality. The artistic style is clean and simple, and uses distinct styles and color for the storytelling panels versus Jordan’s sketches, thus giving each their own individual voice. In these ways, each graphic, panel, color, and artistic choice tells the story in progress in an amplified and enriching way.

The plot of New Kid is a classic school year, coming-of-age story where the protagonist, Jordan, learns to orient himself in a decidedly off-putting environment – the nearly all-white private school that his mother chose for him to attend in lieu of art school. Jordan faces the familiar pitfalls of being the titular new kid in this environment – learning where in the cafeteria is off-limits to him as a first-year student, managing to find his way to class on a gigantic campus, and meeting his teachers and classmates. The familiarity of this plotline does not take away its narrative impact. In fact, because the situation is so familiar and relatable, Craft is able to use it to highlight the ways in which Jordan’s experience is distinct from other protagonists of the classic school story, and this conflict adds to the narrative tension. As one of only a few non-White students at Riverdale Academy Day School (RAD), Jordan experiences, and in turn allows the reader to experience, all the milestones of a school year with an additional lens: Craft overlays microaggressions, codeswitching, and navigating cross-racial and socioeconomic friendships on to the classic middle school experience.

The characters in New Kid are, for me, the instruments of what makes the plot really work. Rich and varied, each contains nuanced shades of depth that I was not expecting in a middle grades graphic novel. The protagonist, Jordan, is a creative artist who, though he never says the word, illustrates the concept of codeswitching in the clearest way that I have ever seen it presented as he transforms himself – hoodie and sunglasses on, to just hoodie, to no hoodie, to no hoodie and no drawing or pencils out - over a series of subway stops as he moves from his home in Washington Heights to the decidedly posh enclave that is the home of the RAD campus. Friends Maury, Drew, Liam, Alexandra, and class bully Andy are also multi-dimensional and original, and who, while they play the roles of archetypal characters in a school-coming-of-age story, do not fall into the classic backstory of those archetypes. Jordan is a smart kid from an average middle-class family with two working parents. Liam is a rich kid who misses his dad and prefers playing Xbox with his friends to going on lavish vacations. Drew receives financial assistance and lives with his grandmother, and is the best student in the school in math. Even school bully Andy does not have the usual abuse and broken family dynamic of the classic school bully – although his living the consequences of his microaggressions and general buffoonery render him almost likeable by the book’s end, though credit for that is due to Craft’s excellent characterization of Jordan, who is a genuinely kind kid and the only RAD student who signs Andy’s yearbook. All these examples are to say that although classic themes of race and class are present, and the kids certainly exist in those contexts, they do not provide the central conflict within each relationship – this is not a simple rich versus poor or black versus white story, it’s a much more complicated and realistic one. This story is ultimately about a group of kids learning to work and play together within the system in which they find themselves.

And the system in which they find themselves is Craft’s masterwork. He does a phenomenal job of capturing all the disparate elements of Middle School, from the weird teacher who ends up inspiring Jordan by the tale’s end, the principal who cannot seem to remember that the math teacher is an altogether different man than the school’s former coach, and, most importantly, the insidious ways in which adults in authority can become the tools of institutional racism. This is nowhere more embodied than in Jordan’s homeroom teacher, who consistently calls Drew “Deandre,” clarifying that Deandre was a trouble student, regularly reminds her students of color that financial assistance is available when costs beyond admission are discussed (even if they do not need or qualify for it), and, after finding and looking through Jordan’s sketchbook without asking, tells Jordan that he seems like an angry boy, when he should be grateful for the opportunity represented by attending the RAD School. I can only speculate that it was this portrayal of what is reality for so many students across America that caused the Katy ISD parent to submit her challenge of New Kid to the school board, in some misguided view that Craft was artificially casting the novel’s white teachers as implements of oppression, rather than attempting to accurately capture the lived experiences of students of color, including himself and his children. I do not have the same problem of doubting someone’s recollection of their own experience, but I can add my own as a defense of Craft’s work. As someone who has spent the last 10 years working in public school human resources, I can say that events like those included in Craft’s portrayal match many of the investigations and disciplinary meetings that I have been involved in during the past decade. Happily, it seems the reviewers of the Katy ISD school board agree.

I think that New Kid is a deserving recipient of all the honors it has won, as it is that rare and special combination of good as a story and good as a life lesson . Through his expressive art, timeless plot, and full-bodied characters, author Jerry Craft deftly weaves a coming-of-age story with heart – and the best and most fully-developed characters that I have met thus far in my reading. I recommend it highly to all middle-grade and up readers – and I hope the publicity from the backlash it has received inspires everyone to read it for themselves!

Craft, J. (2019). New kid . Harper Collins.

Craft, J. (2019). New kid by Jerry Craft . Jerry Craft. https://jerrycraft.com/books/new-kid/

Li, D. K. (2021). Texas school district pulls books by acclaimed black author amid critical race theory claims. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-school-district-pulls-books-acclaimed-children-s-author-n1280956

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10 Of The Best New Children’s Books Out April 2024

Margaret Kingsbury

Margaret Kingsbury grew up in a house so crammed with books she couldn’t open a closet door without a book stack tumbling, and she’s brought that same decorative energy to her adult life. Margaret has an MA in English with a concentration in writing and has worked as a bookseller and adjunct English professor. She’s currently a freelance writer and editor, and in addition to Book Riot, her pieces have appeared in School Library Journal, BuzzFeed News, The Lily, Parents, StarTrek.com, and more. She particularly loves children’s books, fantasy, science fiction, horror, graphic novels, and any books with disabled characters. You can read more about her bookish and parenting shenanigans in Book Riot’s twice-weekly The Kids Are All Right newsletter. You can also follow her kidlit bookstagram account @BabyLibrarians , or on Twitter @AReaderlyMom .

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This month has many returning favorite picture book creators: Sophie Blackall, Dan Santat, Gabi Snyder, Samantha Cotterill, and more. Myths and folklore are explored in many of April’s children’s book releases regardless of age group, as are music and the power of imagination. I had such a hard time narrowing down picture books that I actually read my top ten picks with my six-year-old daughter and had her help me narrow it down to five for this list.

April’s middle grade releases were just as challenging to narrow down, but alas, my daughter could not help me there (yet). In middle grade, I include a fantasy graphic novel, an excellent middle grade history, a phenomenal novel-in-verse about puberty for boys, and more.

I hope you find some books you want to read on this list of April children’s book releases.

April Children’s Book Releases: Picture Books

Ahoy! by Sophie Blackall (April 2; Anne Schwartz Books)

Sophie Blackall is a beloved children’s book author and illustrator, but her newest picture book— Ahoy! —is my six-year-old’s favorite. We read it back-to-back four times in a row when it arrived, with lots of laughter each time! It’s a funny, endearing celebration of children’s imaginations told entirely through dialog. A parent tries to vacuum the living room rug while the child sets up odds and ends around the house into a pretend-play boat. The child reels in the parent, and the two—as well as their cat—spend a thrilling day on the seas escaping squids and sharks. When another parent arrives, they join in on the fun. Blackall pairs her delightful story with equally delightful illustrations. I especially love the genderless characters.

Piper Chen Sings by Phillipa Soo, Maris Pasquale Doran, & Qin Leng (April 2; Random House Studio)

I’m not always super keen on celebrity-authored children’s books, but this sweet intergenerational picture book co-written by Hamilton star Phillipa Soo (Eliza) and her sister-in-law Maris Pasquale Doran is an exception. It’s a lovely and relatable story about a young singer finding confidence after speaking with her grandmother. Piper loves to sing and sings everywhere she goes. She’s initially thrilled when her school’s music teacher asks her to sing a solo at a school performance. However, suddenly signing doesn’t feel the same. It makes her tummy feel funny, and her voice comes out as a whisper. Singing isn’t fun anymore. At home, she sits with Nǎi Nai at the piano bench, and her grandmother tells her all the times she’s felt these butterflies, húdié, in her stomach—at her first piano recital, when she graduated from music school, when she left China to live in America, and more. She realized the húdié were telling her that something exciting was happening, and she learned to welcome them instead of dreading them. Young Piper does the same at her first solo performance. Leng’s illustrations are soft and gentle.

Roar-Choo! by Charlotte Cheng & Dan Santat (April 9; Rocky Pond Books)

This hilarious picture book inspired by Chinese mythology depicts a dragon with a cold being ornery with a phoenix. After Dragon sneezes, sending out a dangerous pillar of flame, Phoenix tries to get Dragon to relax. Dragon, however, is determined to show off everything they can do, from diving to soaring and, of course, roaring. When Phoenix begins sneezing as well, Dragon calms down, and they both rest. An author’s note at the end describes how the dragon and phoenix are traditionally portrayed in Chinese Mythology. As always, Santat’s illustrations are phenomenal. Santat also has another picture book releasing this month, Built to Last by Minh Lê, which I haven’t read yet, but I’m so looking forward to it!

You’re SO Amazing! by James Catchpole, Lucy Catchpole, & Karen George (April 16; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)

I adored James Catchpole’s first picture book, What Happened to You? and I love his newest—a follow-up featuring the same characters co-written by his wife, Lucy Catchpole—just as much. Joe and his friend Simone are having fun playing on the playground when someone shouts, “You’re amazing!” to Joe. Joe gets this a lot. Joe is disabled, and apparently, that means everything he does is amazing, whether it’s trying to play with friends, eating ice cream, or even scratching his bottom. Strangers just won’t stop commenting on how great he is. This makes Joe feel uncomfortable and confused. He wants his amazing friend Simone to be acknowledged, too, and really just wants to be left alone to play with his friends. Thankfully, he has friends who treat him like a normal human being. Back matter includes a note to adults about why disabled kids want to be treated like normal kids. The Catchpoles are well-known in the disabled community, and I love how their picture books push back against stereotypes. This is a must-read for kids and their adults!

Look by Gabi Snyder & Samantha Cotterill (April 16; Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books)

Snyder and Cotterill are more of my favorite children’s book creators, and their latest is a stunning picture book about finding patterns. A child and pregnant parent go on a walk in their new town. Along the way, the child notices patterns everywhere: tall and short dogs being walked in a row, shapes at a farmer’s market stand, colorful flowers, and more. The child draws the patterns in a sketchbook. Noticing the patterns helps the child feel less overwhelmed. Snyder’s lyrical text is imaginative and engaging, while Cotterill’s constructed diorama illustrations are gorgeous and evocative. Kids can spend a long time noticing patterns when they read this! Back matter includes a discussion of pattern types and pattern activities.

March Children’s Book Releases: Early Readers

Batcat: Sink or Swim by Meggie Ramm (April 16; Abrams Fanfare)

The adorable Batcat returns in this fantastic standalone follow-up to the early reader graphic novel Batcat . I’m so glad this is a series. Batcat and Al the Ghost are now friendly roommates, but sometimes Batcat needs some alone time. So Batcat decides to go to the beach alone for a little quiet reading and snacking. Unfortunately, the beach is packed with wailing mermaids. Their tails have been drained of color, and when they spy Batcat, they enlist their help by enticing Batcat with fish taco treats. Unfortunately, Batcat hates the water, making solving this magical mystery difficult. Back matter includes instructions on how to draw Batcat, Al, and emanata, as well as nonbinary facts. This second book is just as entertaining as the first.

March Children’s Book Releases: Middle Grade

Monkey King and the World of Myths: The Monster and the Maze by Maple Lam (April 2; G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)

This is such a fun middle grade graphic novel combining Chinese and Greek mythology. It stars the Monkey King—Sun Wukong—on his quest to become a god. Everyone tends to get a bit annoyed with Sun Wukong’s endless energy and silly antics. When he visits the human world, he meets the God Venus and decides to sneak into the world of the gods. He wants to become a god, too, but as a beast, he’s not allowed into the world of the gods. After causing a lot of mischief among the gods, God Venus makes him a deal. To earn his godship, he must defeat monsters plaguing the human world. First stop: Crete and the legend of the Minotaur. Young mythology lovers will adore this funny, action-packed, and playful spin on the classic tales. The illustrations are so cute and fun.

Ultraviolet by Aida Salazar (April 2; Scholastic)

This lyrical middle grade novel-in-verse tackles much-needed topics for middle school boys: toxic masculinity, puberty, consent, and first relationships. Eighth-grader Elio, who is Indigenous Mexican American, has his first crush on Camellia. All his friends are hooking up, too, and thankfully Camellia is interested in him as well, and the two begin dating. Elio’s body is going through a lot of changes, and he doesn’t know what to think of it all. Camellia’s is, too, and Elio struggles with how to react to her changes as well. When Camellia breaks up with him, Elio says some bad things he later regrets. Meanwhile, his dad is also working out how to confront his toxic masculinity. Salazar does a great job combining humor and realism. It also includes older queer characters, which is nice to see in a novel about puberty for boys.

Made in Asian America: A History for Young People by Erika Lee & Christina Soontornvat (April 30; Quill Tree Books)

This phenomenal middle grade nonfiction centering Asian Americans fills many gaps in history textbooks. It’s adapted from Erika Lee’s adult nonfiction book The Making of Asian America . Lee and Soontornvat use engaging individual narratives, accessible language, and many photographs to create this much-needed, personal look into Asian American history. It covers a broad swath of history, from the 13th-century problematic interest in the “Orient” to the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act and much, much more. The authors also explore broad topics like the model minority stereotype. It’s a fascinating and essential history.

Benny Ramírez and the Nearly Departed by José Pablo Iriarte (April 30; Knopf Books for Young Readers)

This is a funny, whimsical ghost story about a young boy haunted by his abeulo’s ghost. When Benny’s grandfather dies of a heart attack, the family inherits his Miami home. So they move from Los Angeles to Miami, and all three siblings are enrolled in the South Miami Performing Arts School. But there’s only one problem—unlike the rest of his family, Benny has no musical skills. Well, there’s a second problem, too: Benny can see his grandfather’s ghost, though no one else can. To make his way to heaven, Benny’s abuelo decides he needs to teach Benny how to play the trumpet like a pro and become the most popular kid at his new school. Abuelo’s advice never goes as planned, however. This is such a sweet and heartwarming read.

If you’re looking for more new children’s book releases beyond this list of April children’s book releases, check out my list of March children’s book releases , February children’s book releases , and January new children’s book releases .

You can find a full list of new releases in the magical New Release Index , carefully curated by your favorite Book Riot editors, organized by genre and release date.

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Class act: new kid, book 2, common sense media reviewers.

Eighth-graders navigate race, class in savvy graphic novel.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Class Act offers opportunities to discuss issues o

How much money someone has doesn't determine how h

A good basketball player, Drew is more outgoing th

Some of the girls flirt with Drew, mostly by bring

Parents need to know that Class Act is a companion volume to New Kid , the Newbery award-winner by writer/artist Jerry Craft. The story follows friends Jordan and Drew as they move into eighth grade at Riverdale Day Academy and learn to deal with more privileged kids. There's no harsh language or…

Educational Value

Class Act offers opportunities to discuss issues of race, class, and gender. The characters are ethnically and economically diverse.

Positive Messages

How much money someone has doesn't determine how happy they are. Kids from different backgrounds can find ways to work together,

Positive Role Models

A good basketball player, Drew is more outgoing than his friend Jordan, who wants to be a cartoonist. They interact with kids from a wide variety of backgrounds -- Black, White, Asian, LatinX, neuroatypical -- and try to be compassionate and inclusive.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some of the girls flirt with Drew, mostly by bringing him food.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Class Act is a companion volume to New Kid , the Newbery award-winner by writer/artist J erry Craft . The story follows friends Jordan and Drew as they move into eighth grade at Riverdale Day Academy and learn to deal with more privileged kids. There's no harsh language or violence, and only a tiny amount of awkward flirting.

Where to Read

Community reviews.

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

Divisive content

What's the story.

As CLASS ACT opens with eighth grader Drew Ellis entering his second year at prestigious Riverdale Academy Day School. He's glad to be back with his friends Liam and Jordan, but things seem different somehow. Drew has dark skin and lives with his grandmother; lighter-skinned Jordan's family is solidly middle class; and Liam resides on an estate and has his own personal assistant. The differences between the boys keep adding up, even as there's more drama at school with girls, older kids, and teachers who try too hard. Will Drew be able to keep his cool and stay true to himself?

Is It Any Good?

Middle school can be tough, and this perceptive, heartfelt, and funny graphic novel captures the essence of those turbulent years. The highly diverse cast struggles with issues of race, gender, and class as Drew and his fellow students try to fit in and remain true to themselves. Author-illustrator Jerry Craft has a lot of fun with his characters, but he also has a serious side, especially apparent when Drew, Jordan, and Jordan's father are pulled over by the police. Class Act is the kind book that invites re-reading even as fans look forward to the next installment. Here's hoping the third act is ready soon!

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Class Act addresses issues of race and class. Why is it sometimes awkward to discuss those subjects?

Some girls like to touch Drew's hair when they pass in the hall. Why would that upset someone? What boundaries do you set for people regarding your hair and body?

Can kids from different circumstances be good friends? How can schools instill acceptance among their students?

Book Details

• Author : Jerry Craft
• Illustrator : Jerry Craft
• Genre : Graphic Novel
• Topics : Friendship , Great Boy Role Models , Middle School
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Quill Tree Books
• Publication date : October 6, 2020
• Number of pages : 256
• Available on : Paperback, Nook, iBooks, Kindle
• Last updated : September 30, 2020

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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'Our kids are not OK,' child psychiatrist Harold Koplewicz says

Terry Gross

The founder of the Child Mind Institute explains why young people are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression — and what parents can do about it. His book is Scaffold Parenting.

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. There are so many reasons for children to be anxious today beyond all the standard childhood problems. There's the setbacks from the COVID lockdown, mass shootings in schools, feelings they're not measuring up to the great lives they see represented on social media, fears about the whole planet being in jeopardy. It's hardly unusual for parents to be unsure how to handle their child's anxiety, depression, learning problems, anger, tantrums. And it can be difficult for parents to evaluate whether their child should see a therapist or take medication.

My guest, child psychiatrist Harold Koplewicz, has dealt with these issues with many children and their parents. And there have been times he's been confounded about issues his own children faced. He's the founding president of the Child Mind Institute. Its stated mission is transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders by giving them the help they need to thrive. The institute also conducts related research.

From 1997 to 2009, he was the first director of the NYU Child Study Center. Koplewicz recently stepped down from his 25-year tenure as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. His latest book is titled "Scaffold Parenting: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant And Secure Kids In An Age Of Anxiety." Dr. Harold Koplewicz, welcome to FRESH AIR. What are some of the problems and anxieties you're seeing now that you can connect to outside problems, like the COVID lockdown and its lingering aftereffects? How are you seeing that manifest in the children's anxieties that you're seeing?

HAROLD KOPLEWICZ: Well, I think our kids are not OK. And unfortunately, they weren't doing very well before COVID. But COVID has had a negative effect on all children. Children with mental health disorders and kids who are typically developing children being locked up for two years and living with fear that somebody close to you - someone near and dear - will die is very problematic. And we also know that 1 million Americans did die, which means that about 170,000 American children lost a caregiver or a parent.

And if we go back to 2001, after 9/11, we lost 3,000 Americans. And I can tell you that in New York, in certain pockets - Staten Island, where there were a lot of firemen, and Manhasset, where there were a lot of finance people who were in the building, and certainly people around ground zero - it was very hard to get kids to go back to school. Attendance rates didn't return to 9/10 - to September 10 levels for over a year and sometimes even longer.

So we do know that this kind of traumatic event is going to have lingering effects. And we have seen increases in anxiety disorders and in depression, particularly in girls but certainly even in boys. There are higher rates of kids trying to hurt themselves. And there is even an increase in the number of young people who have committed suicide. So there is no doubt that we had a problem before. And we have a greater problem now.

GROSS: The average child isn't necessarily, like, watching cable news or reading the newspaper. But you pick up a lot of this on social media. And it's also just in the air. Like, everybody's talking about these issues, like, environmental catastrophe, you know, political divisions. Is this the end of democracy? Is the planet burning? I mean, you're just - it's just in the air now.

KOPLEWICZ: Well, you know, there's something dramatically changed between 2010 and 2018. So the numbers start to jump when we started looking at children's mental health. There were higher rates of visits to emergency rooms by kids for suicidal thought and suicidal behavior. And the increase in the number of kids who died from suicide went from around 5,000 to 6,000. Now, just think about that. If it was diabetes, if it was cancer, that would have made the front page of every newspaper every single day. It would be on cable news 24/7. And somehow, we don't take mental health disorders as seriously as we take physical disorders.

And so, you know, what happened between 2010 and 2018 is that all of us started carrying a device with us that connected us to everybody on the planet 24/7. And that definitely had a negative effect on a certain percentage of the population. So I want to be clear that social media is not like smoking. It doesn't - it's not terrible for everyone. But it is particularly bad for kids who have mental health disorders. And we've really looked at this very carefully at the Child Mind Institute, where we had done a study before COVID that was looking for an objective test - a biological test. Psychiatry is the only discipline in medicine that doesn't have an objective test - doesn't have a chest X-ray or a blood test or a strep test. And therefore, that's the holy grail, right? We make the diagnosis with clinical information, which is how you start all diagnosis in every part of medicine. But you can confirm it with an EKG or with a brain scan. So psychiatry is missing that.

And so we started something called the Healthy Brain Network, where we offered any parent who was worried about their child - who was between the ages of 5 and 21 - a free psychiatric evaluation, free neuropsych testing, which looks for learning disabilities, a functional MRI and EEG, physical fitness, cardiovascular status, nutritional status. And this became the - and is still the largest collection of the developing brain of kids 5 to 21 that's ever been collected. And we share it with scientists around the world, who make an agreement with us that they won't try to find out who the subjects are.

GROSS: Wait. So is the point of this to figure out, is there a - like, a biological diagnosis you can make? Does the cohort of people who have, like, depression or anxiety or whatever share certain biological markers? Is that the point?

KOPLEWICZ: That would be the point. The real trick is, can you tell the difference between one atypical child and another? Not the difference between a typical developing child and someone who may have a mental health disorder or a learning disorder but the difference between Terry, who has anxiety, and Harold, who has depression. And is there something on the EEG or on the functional MRI? Can we find a definitive objective test? But the good news here is that when you collect all this data - and it turns out that 9% of the 7,000 kids that participated did not have a disorder. They had symptoms, but they didn't meet psychiatric criteria for a diagnosis. You now have described, very accurately and very specifically, phenotypically what these kids look like. And then you get COVID. And you find that their use of social media jumps. They are using the internet six to eight hours a day. And a...

GROSS: All the kids in the study?

KOPLEWICZ: No, no, no. Just a large percentage of them. And we start defining that as problematic internet usage. Not only are you using it a lot, but when you force them to stop, they get distressed. It almost feels like an addiction, right? And we do know that - it turns out for the 9%, who are typically developing kids, that when you use the internet more than six to eight hours a day, you will sleep less. You will exercise less. And you'll have less interactions in real life. All three of them are important for healthy brain development, but you don't become mentally ill. However, if you have a mental health disorder and you start behaving that way, your symptoms get worse. It's almost like a toxic agent. It turns out that the internet usage of over six to eight hours a day can make your symptoms of depression, your symptoms of ADHD significantly worse, which is a really important phenomena.

GROSS: Why do you think that is?

KOPLEWICZ: Well, it's a very good question. Why? Our guess is that for these kids, someone who has depression, they're already socially more isolated than the average person, and they start losing their skill set and their ambition to interact with the rest of the world. Kids with ADHD can get very hyper-focused with certain activities and at times feel very lost, very impulsive, feel very often like a failure when they can't pay attention in school or are missing things that everyone else is picking up. So what's important about this is that if you're a parent and you know your child has one of these disorders, you have to be very aware that their usage of social media, it could potentially be toxic and it has to be controlled. It can't be unlimited. Not that it's good for anyone to have unlimited, but it's particularly bad for those kids.

So we know that social media was out there between 2010 and 2018. And unfortunately, there's no regulation on it. And it means that parents have to be more aware. I mean, I think of it as, you know, a jungle, right? The jungle is an exciting place, very nutritious fruit and vegetables and lots of terrific stuff. Maybe medicines even can get discovered in the jungle. But it also has snakes, it also has dangerous plants that can kill you, it also has animals. And therefore, if you're going to let your child participate, you should be a very active participant in that permission.

GROSS: So if you think that social media can be very harmful to certain children, how would you suggest parents try to limit their time on social media? That's something that is really hard to do.

KOPLEWICZ: I think it is challenging, but I think it's very doable. We also have some good data. We know that parents who are using the internet in a, you know, problematic way are more likely to have kids that are doing it. Parents have to model this. They have to have periods where, we're putting the phone away at nighttime, and you're not allowed to look at it because we want you to sleep. We do want to look and see how much time you're spending on it, and we want you to be aware of how much time you're spending on it. So it's not, you know, punitive. It's a collaboration, especially if they're a teenager or a pre-teen. But I also think that, you know, it's time for us to get much more sophisticated about this.

GROSS: I want to talk with you a little bit about suicide since you brought it up. And I want to ask you first - just in terms of our show, we always give warnings when we're going to be talking about suicide. And we always give the suicide prevention hotline number, the idea being that hearing talk about suicide can almost be encouraging to someone who has had suicidal ideation. So do you think that's helpful?

KOPLEWICZ: Well, I think it's important to recognize that even if it's a small percentage, to give people that information - that lifeline is very important - and also to let them know that they're not alone. So I think the way to think about this is, why are teenagers so much more at risk than you or me? And the way to think about a teenager is, they feel everything. They're boiling. They're freezing. I hate you. I love you. You know, what happened to I'm warm or it's a little cool in here? That doesn't happen. And in some ways, it's really kind of terrific because they are so creative and they see opportunity everywhere. And they don't recognize risk very well.

I mean, there's some really interesting studies of a teenage boy who goes and picks up a friend to come into his car. And the teenager driver is wearing a seatbelt, and the teenage male who sits down next to him doesn't put a seatbelt on, and the teenage driver takes his seatbelt off. He goes and picks up a girl, and the girl gets into the car and she puts her seatbelt on, and the teenage driver now puts his seatbelt on.

So they're very easily moved by their peer group in a way that they hadn't been before. And parents should note this, that even though the peer group becomes significantly more influential when you're a teenager, parents are still the most influential factor in a kid's life. But it's important that parents keep talking, keep sharing their viewpoint, keep listening to their kid's viewpoint and not back off because their kids say, well, everyone's doing it.

GROSS: A child comes into your office, let's say a teenager comes into your office. You think that the possibility of this teenager attempting suicide is real. What do you do to try to prevent that from happening?

KOPLEWICZ: Well, it really depends on how serious they are about the attempt. Do they have a plan? Have they been thinking about it a long time? Have they stopped doing their usual pleasurable experiences? They no longer are hanging out with friends or not eating the food that they love. And you have to really recognize that if they are very serious about it, you have to intervene. You have to save their lives. You have to either say to them, I don't feel you're safe, or ask them if they feel safe, and then sometimes make the decision that they have to be in an environment where they'll be watched, in a hospital. Or you'll talk to their parents and see can they watch them until this mood and this ideation actually passes.

GROSS: So I just want to pause here and give the national Suicide and Crisis hotline number. And this is the number to call or to text. It's 988, so it's a simple number. Just three numbers, 988, to either call or text the national Suicide and Crisis hotline. So if you are having thoughts of suicide, please get some help. Well, let me reintroduce you. If you're just joining us, my guest is Harold Koplewicz and he is a child psychiatrist, the founding president of the Child Mind Institute. His books include "Scaffold Parenting: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant, And Secure Kids In An Age Of Anxiety." We have to take a short break here, and we'll be right back. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Let's get back to my interview with Dr. Harold Koplewicz. He is a child psychiatrist, he's the founding president of the Child Mind Institute, and his books include "Scaffold Parenting: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant, And Secure Kids In An Age Of Anxiety."

You specialize in ADHD - attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Why don't you define what the symptoms are and how to recognize it?

KOPLEWICZ: So it's a challenge for lots of people to think about it because they think, oh, aren't we all hyperactive at some time? But the difference here is a deficit in attention toward what's normal developmentally. So the attention span of a 5-year-old is very different than the attention span of a 10-year-old. But any individual who has ADHD is chronically less attentive, tends to be more impulsive, and if they have hyperactivity, they're moving around more. They can get themselves into physical problems because they basically have ants in their pants. They're constantly in motion. The diagnosis when you have hyperactivity is much easier to make than when you just have ADD without H. But it's a chronic illness, and therefore, it may change over time. Your symptoms might lessen. Hyperactivity might go away when you become a teenager. But you are always going to have a shorter attention span and going to be more impulsive than the average person your age.

GROSS: I think this is one of the problems in which brain imaging is starting to be used - fMRIs, where you can see, like, which parts of the brain light up in different situations and different thoughts. How are fMRIs being used in ADHD?

KOPLEWICZ: Right. It's the holy grail for us to find that objective test. One of the things we've discovered at the Child Mind Institute is that the way your brain connects to itself while a child's at rest turns out to be diagnostic. It's called connectomes. So does the front of the brain connect to the side of the brain or to the back of the brain?

And what's been very interesting is that we took a few hundred scans and sent them to a group of people who were statisticians, who were electrical engineers, and asked them if they could group those different scans in different buckets. And we found the group that actually won this competition were statisticians from Hopkins. And they said, well, these 150 scans go together, and these 50 scans go together, and these hundred scans go together. And these are individuals who have never seen a patient with psychiatric disorder. But what's really interesting - in bucket one, the overwhelming majority of those patients had ADHD. In the group of 50, they had autism. And the group of a hundred, they had both ADHD and autism. So we're really excited by the fact that we have found something that might lead us to a definitive, objective test.

Now, the important part for everyone to remember - it's not just one child. It's not a strep test - yes, you're positive or someone else is negative. It's a group difference. But that's the way we're going to get closer and closer to making a definitive diagnosis.

GROSS: So in a study like the fMRI study that you were referring to, how do you know whether the brain is reflecting the behavior or whether the behavior is predetermined by the brain? Do you know what I mean?

KOPLEWICZ: Sure. Well, it's...

GROSS: It's, like, if I move my left arm - if I say, I'm going to move my left arm right now, and I'm doing it with intent, it's going to register on an fMRI, probably. But it's not like I have a disorder that's moving my left arm. It's, like, I've decided to behave this way, and it's registering in my brain.

KOPLEWICZ: So, you know, let's think about this for a second. This is exactly where the field of research in functional MRI has gone to. You know, they used to give a trigger to a kid. You know, pay attention to this while you're in the machine, or we're going to show you scary faces and see what happened to the brain. It turns out that the most powerful way of doing this is just letting kids rest or sleep in the functional MRI. And your brain is incredibly active while you're at rest or sleeping. And that's when you're going to see most of these connections. So in the case of the study, we weren't triggering them. We weren't saying, you know, this clearly should be what makes the - you know, we'll catch them being inattentive, and then we'll look at the MRI. We're just looking at their brains at rest.

GROSS: Oh, that's really interesting. So has this affected your treatment at all?

KOPLEWICZ: So we're not there yet. You know, it's not ready for prime time. I wish it - you know, I could say, oh, we're going to give everyone EEGs, because they're only 60 bucks, and an MRI is 500, and we found some correlation. That's what I'm hoping for. But, you know, science has to wait for real data. So at this moment, we still have to rely on clinical diagnosis. You're asking parents what they think. You're asking teachers and report cards, because this is not something that just pops up when you're about to apply to college or because you didn't make partner at the law firm. This is a lifelong illness. And you can document that by looking at things from a longitudinal basis.

And then you have to examine the child. The child basically confirms the diagnosis or doesn't. I think it's fascinating when you do give a kid meds, and they do significantly better, that a young child will tell you the medicine's not working. And you say, really? What's changed? He said, my teacher is much nicer. I said, that's really interesting.

GROSS: (Laughter).

KOPLEWICZ: You take a pill and your kid - your teacher's much nicer. That really is absolutely amazing. And they said, yeah. You know, you're 8 years old. OK.

GROSS: Well, we need to take another break here, so let me reintroduce you. If you're just joining us, my guest is Dr. Harold Koplewicz. He's a child psychiatrist. He's the founding president of the Child Mind Institute. And his books include "Scaffold Parenting: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant And Secure Kids In An Age Of Anxiety." We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR.

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. Let's get back to my interview with Dr. Harold Koplewicz. He's a child psychiatrist and the founding president of the Child Mind Institute. His books include "Scaffold Parenting: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant, And Secure Kids In An Age Of Anxiety." Your middle son has dyslexia. No one realized it at first. How did you discover what it was? Because this is, I assume, one of the issues that you treat as a child psychiatrist.

KOPLEWICZ: Right. Well, I think dyslexia has very often been put into another category until about the last 25 years, so that it was something educational experts did and not necessarily child psychiatrists. And brain scans and functional MRIs have changed that, but in the case of our family, he was 4 years old. We were visiting his grandmother for a day, and she was a pretty neutral individual, very careful not to say anything critical or even say anything overly praising, and she mentioned that she had trouble understanding him. And we said, Well, you know, his articulation isn't great. And she said, no, his stories are out of sequence, and I don't think he knows my name. I love listening to him, but everything seems a little mixed up. And I was the one who said, you know, we should listen to grandma here.

And we went on this journey to figure out what was wrong. We had him tested, and the tester said, oh, he's very bright. Well, at 4 years old, you don't read on these kinds of neuropsych testing, but she did mention that he had some word retrieval problems and that he couldn't name certain things, and she was concerned that maybe he didn't recognize the alphabet. And I remember at the time saying, What do we do about it? And she said, well, it's going to cost a lot of money, and it's going to take a lot of time. And I thought, well, he's 4 years old. He has a lot of time. And for this, we'll find a lot of money. We'll mortgage our house. He's got to learn how to read.

So we went on this journey, and it turned out that we wasted a lot of time. There were a lot of dead ends where we thought we were doing well, but it turns out he was memorizing words, that he couldn't decode the language. He couldn't tell the difference between Sally, Susan, and Sarah. And it was only by third grade, when math turned into word problems, that we saw how frustrated he was and how he recognized that he was ahead of kids in math but way behind them in reading, and he knew this was happening. And that gave us the moment to reevaluate and figure out a more evidence-based approach.

GROSS: Which was?

KOPLEWICZ: Well, it turns out that a multisensory approach to learning how to read, teaching kids the sounds of the language, brother sounds, what your lips look like, and there was a program called Lindamood-Bell, which is now in 50 states, and it's very intensive. You spend 4 hours a day doing these exercises with a different tutor every hour, and then you do another 30 minutes or 40 minutes of homework. And they basically teach you how to break the code, that the rest of us are learning how to read with only one side of our brain, and they are teaching you how to read thinking that, you know, your brain thinks it's Italian or Spanish, that you're learning a foreign language. It's really a remarkable intervention.

GROSS: I'm going to stop you. What do you mean by that, that your brain thinks you're learning a foreign language?

KOPLEWICZ: When we learn a foreign language, we use both sides of our brain. When we're learning...

GROSS: We do?

KOPLEWICZ: Yes.

GROSS: (Laughter). I hadn't heard that before.

KOPLEWICZ: Right. So when we're learning our native language, we activate one side of the brain, and kids with dyslexia underactivate that brain. And so when you teach them a new way of learning, it's like teaching them a foreign language, and so when you check what's going on in a functional MRI, they're lighting up both sides of their brain. The thing that's really awful about dyslexia, as far as I'm concerned, is what it does to kids' self-esteem. You know, once a year, I get to interview someone who's struggled with it, whether it's Orlando Bloom or Ari Emanuel or, you know, Lorraine Bracco, and you hear how bad they felt about themselves.

Think about it. Every day, you go to work, and every day, you feel like a failure, so it's not surprising that you think you're stupid or that you don't want to be there. And what they - all these successful people have in common is a great mom. You know, Barbara Corcoran has it, and she told me that the nuns were really giving her a tough time in parochial school. And her mother said, don't listen to the nuns. You are not stupid. They're stupid. Well, having a mom who's telling you you're still bright or Orlando Bloom's mom, who said, let's do poetry - you know, those are these great moms who are basically saying, I'm on your side, and we're going to figure this out. But for those who don't have those moms, school is impossible. There's high school dropout rates. There are high rates of getting involved in the juvenile justice system because you're not in school. And when we look at the juvenile justice system, we see that 70% of the inmates have dyslexia.

GROSS: You know, I used to think that dyslexia was a problem with, like, reversing words, so you'd have to read slowly 'cause words would get reversed in your mind, but it's much more profound than that. Can you give us, like, the latest understanding of what dyslexia is?

KOPLEWICZ: Sure. So that's a myth, you know, the d, the b. What it really is, first of all, it's a brain-based disorder, and there's two major symptoms. One is alphabet recognition, being able to look at the A and knowing it's an A and looking at the D and knowing it's a D. And we all learned that, kind of, you know, very easily. And the other (inaudible) awareness, hearing the sounds of the language, being able to say to yourself or let your brain recognize that S-L-O-W comes out slow and S-H-O-W comes out show. And so you have to be able to hear those two different phonemes. And I will tell you that now that America is recognizing that this kind of evidence-based learning is really important, that we have to teach kids phonemes, we have to teach them how to read no matter who they are, we are really addressing this in an earlier age, so kids who have dyslexia will be picked up sooner and will be able to get interventions that are more effective, again, before it affects their self-esteem.

GROSS: So let me reintroduce you here. If you're just joining us, my guest is Doctor Harold Koplewicz. He's a child psychiatrist, author of the book "Scaffold Parenting: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant And Secure Kids In An Age of Anxiety" and founding president of the Child Mind Institute. We'll be right back. This is FRESH AIR.

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Let's get back to my interview with Dr. Harold Koplewicz, the founding president of the Child Mind Institute, author of the book "Scaffold Parenting: Raising Resilient, Self-Reliant And Secure Kids In An Age Of Anxiety." He's a child psychiatrist and has been one for how many years?

KOPLEWICZ: Almost 40.

GROSS: OK. So this is a kind of personal question, but knowing what you know now - and there's so much more research that's been done into childhood, you know, behavioral problems and mental health disorders - do you think you had any undiagnosed problems as a child?

KOPLEWICZ: I don't think so, but...

GROSS: And I don't mean that, like...

KOPLEWICZ: No, no, no.

GROSS: ...I recognize symptoms in (laughter)...

KOPLEWICZ: No, no, no. Yeah.

GROSS: ...In how you're behaving...

KOPLEWICZ: I - but I know - but I would tell you that I clearly became much more of a student when I was in college than I was in high school. I had Eastern European parents. I had parents who survived the Holocaust and got to the United States in 1949. And they didn't believe that education was a journey. It was a destination. And they couldn't wait until, you know, you graduated and go to college. And so I was two years younger than everyone in elementary school. And I think that was most probably not a great idea - that most boys developed, you know, late. And so that was a problem.

And I would also tell you that, you know, the parents that I had when I was growing up were much more traumatized by the Holocaust than the parents I had later on in life, when they were in their 80s and 90s and were less anxious and the nightmares had stopped and they felt more comfortable in the United States - and also comfortable that, you know, I was going to be successful. I had graduated medical school. I had children. They - I was married. And that seemed to really calm them down.

But I do recognize that they were overly invested in my being successful because they were trying to recreate stuff that they lost. My parents were both - by the way, my father had graduated law school in 1936, and my mother was in law school in 1938. And neither one of them ever practiced law. They came to this country as immigrants. They had to start all fresh again. My father started a business. I think they struggled financially. My mother eventually went back to school and got a B.A. and then an MSW. But there was this idea of what could have been if there wouldn't have been the Holocaust. And therefore, my sister and I had to carry, you know, that weight, which is, you know, understandable but was very unpleasant when it was happening.

GROSS: Were your parents in camps?

KOPLEWICZ: My father was literally in 14 concentration camps and the Warsaw Ghetto. And how is that possible? Well, at the very first camp, they asked, who knows how to make airplanes? And my father raised his hand. And when asked about that, he said, well, they had already killed the lawyers. And he figured, well, I know how to use a screwdriver. I'll figure it out. And he went from camp to camp. And he was with one other man who kept being moved with him, and they got a little piece of metal. And the other guy was very artistic, and he engraved a sailboat and a horn of plenty. And on the other side, every time they moved from one camp to another, my father inscribed the date and the name of the camp. And they were hoping that it would be at least a record, that what they were experiencing would be recorded and documented. And that piece of metal, by the way, is at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in New York - I'm sorry, in D.C., in Washington...

GROSS: Yeah.

KOPLEWICZ: ...D.C.

GROSS: Yeah. So you mentioned your - so your mother was in camps, too?

KOPLEWICZ: No. My mother got papers as a Catholic and - false papers as a Catholic and walked out of the ghetto. And in some ways, it was more trying for her in the respect that - think about it. You have fake papers, and if the Gestapo stops you and starts really examining the papers and starts asking you questions like, what is your mother and father's name? Oh, they're dead. OK. And what was your priest's name? And where are you from? It wouldn't take very long.

So she moved around 16 different villages, outside of Warsaw, working as a maid. And she was a terrible housekeeper, so it is really amazing how she managed to do that, because she - you know, she really had a very tough time and was very isolated and just basically, you know, surviving from day to day. And it was, I think, a little more than two years where she was moving around. The war ended first in Poland. And so my father didn't come and find her until several months later.

GROSS: Oh, they were married before the war started.

KOPLEWICZ: Well, I wish I could tell you that's true, and that was the story I was told. But it turns out that when my then-12-year-old son was doing a - my wife insisted that if he was going to be bar mitzvahed, it had to be intergenerational. So he kept asking my mother her life story and recording it. And at a certain point, my son said, I don't understand, Grandma. Where was the infrastructure in the ghetto for you to get married? And my mother said, oh, you know, in the Jewish religion, you can get married and become the stars and the moon. And my son said, I don't think that's true. I think you need a contract.

KOPLEWICZ: And she said, well, August 12. It was the day I lost my virginity with your grandfather. And he came home and said, I don't know if Grandma and Grandpa ever were married. I think they're celebrating the day they had sex. So I called my mother and said, I don't understand. Why did you tell him that? She said, I never slept with anybody else, and I thought, enough. And he asked much better questions than you ever did.

KOPLEWICZ: So I think they got married when they were leaving Poland to go to a displaced persons camp in Germany. But - and I have to tell you as an example, their people - my mother was madly in love with my father before the war. You know, she lusted for him. He was very attractive, and he was a lawyer already. And then after the war, when he returned, he was skin and bones. And, you know, he was truly a different person. And she was a different person. She was no longer a bit of a princess. She was a survivor. She knew hard (ph) - and she - he came and found her. And she said, I'm going to let you come in, but I'm leaving. I've got papers to go either to Palestine or to Australia or Canada or the United States. I'm not staying here. And he said, well, I am staying here. I'm a lawyer, and we're going to make a lot of money. And she said, that's OK.

The idea that they lived together for three months and she got the papers and he decided to go with her - it's really a very romantic story that they fell in love again. And my father, every year on their anniversary, would give my mother - if they had money, he gave her a red rose for every year they were together and three white roses for the three years they weren't together with the same note - life had no color without you. So they really rediscovered each other and I think gave - that bond was so close. In some ways, my sister and I sometimes felt out of it because they were such a partnership that that's what carried them through later on.

GROSS: What impact do you think it had on you as a child to know that they were having these nightmares, these concentration camp...

KOPLEWICZ: Oh, it was nightmares.

GROSS: ...Or posing-as-a-Catholic kind of nightmares? Did they tell you about that? Could you sense it? And in the same mode there, like, did they let on what they had experienced and how traumatic it was?

KOPLEWICZ: So the stories were never consistent or chronological, so you only got bits and pieces. You know, something about the showers - right? - that one of my grandmothers died in the showers. You know, I hate to tell you that they didn't explain the camps to me, but you also knew that they were so upset by it that you didn't pursue it. You didn't ask them a lot of things. And I can certainly tell you that since they weren't very Jewish by education or training, the holidays were just terrible. I mean, you know, most people light a memorial candle for all the people that have died in their family. Well, all their brothers and sisters and their parents and their cousins, so that, you know, there were, like, 10 yahrzeit candles, these memorial candles, but they weren't kept in the kitchen. Like, all the ghosts were on the dining room table for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. And it's kind of amazing the transformation they made over time - that, you know, they were literally able to become more stable and calmer and more effective as adults.

GROSS: You must have grown up with a very dark view of life.

KOPLEWICZ: At times, yes. You know, at time, yes. And yet the amazing part about my parents were they couldn't care less about material things. So other kids would live in houses near us in Queens and then in Nassau County, where the slip covers, plastic slip covers were put on the furniture, and my mother would say, What are they waiting for? You know, they'll be dead. If something broke in our house, my mother never cared about it. I mean, it really gave them a whole different attitude about what was important, and certainly, material things were not important to my parents. They had lost a lot because they stayed. You know, I used to say, why didn't you come to America, for God's sakes? and my mother would say, Al Capone and peasants - they came to America, not - you know, not the intelligentsia. You know, she's kind of snobby about, you know, her academic credentials and who her family was, but, you know, they lost a lot because they didn't want to leave property or whatever it was or the life that they had.

GROSS: So one last question. You know, some parents really want to be their children's best friend, and some parents really want to maintain their stature as the authority figure, not the best friend. And in terms of being a parent yourself, I'm curious where you fit on that spectrum, if you are comfortable talking about that.

KOPLEWICZ: Sure. Well, I'm not my kid's best friend, you know, and that's OK, because even though they're all adults now, which is a whole different kind of relationship... I mean, my children are 41, 37, and 35. It really is frightening...

KOPLEWICZ: ...To see that one of my kids has gray hair. You know, it's like, how did this happen? Because I'm still 35. You know, but all along, I think there is this pull that you certainly want your kids to love you because you love them so much, but it's OK for them not to like you because you do have to protect them. And when you protect them, there are certain things that they want to do that you know are dangerous for them or are just not good for them or not healthy for them. And so I think it's very hard, if not impossible, to be a friend, which is be a peer - right? - and share the same point of view and not have control. Your friend does not have control over you. It's much more equal. And I don't think that's possible as a parent. I think the best type of parenting, by the way, is an authoritative parent who has a lot of warmth but has a lot of control. So both the kid and the parent know, at the end of the day, the parent is going to make the decision, maybe with input from the child. But at the end of the day, it's not a democracy. It's going to be the parent who has the responsibility to make those decisions.

GROSS: Dr. Harold Koplewicz, thank you so much for talking with us.

KOPLEWICZ: Oh, it's been a pleasure, Terry.

GROSS: Dr. Harold Koplewicz is the founding president of the Child Mind Institute. His latest book is titled "Scaffold Parenting." After we take a short break, Justin Chang reviews what he describes as a marvelous new movie. This is FRESH AIR.

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• BOOK REVIEW
• 29 March 2024

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?

• Candice L. Odgers 0

Candice L. Odgers is the associate dean for research and a professor of psychological science and informatics at the University of California, Irvine. She also co-leads international networks on child development for both the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in Toronto and the Jacobs Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland.

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Social-media platforms aren’t always social. Credit: Getty

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness Jonathan Haidt Allen Lane (2024)

Two things need to be said after reading The Anxious Generation . First, this book is going to sell a lot of copies, because Jonathan Haidt is telling a scary story about children’s development that many parents are primed to believe. Second, the book’s repeated suggestion that digital technologies are rewiring our children’s brains and causing an epidemic of mental illness is not supported by science. Worse, the bold proposal that social media is to blame might distract us from effectively responding to the real causes of the current mental-health crisis in young people.

Haidt asserts that the great rewiring of children’s brains has taken place by “designing a firehose of addictive content that entered through kids’ eyes and ears”. And that “by displacing physical play and in-person socializing, these companies have rewired childhood and changed human development on an almost unimaginable scale”. Such serious claims require serious evidence.

Collection: Promoting youth mental health

Haidt supplies graphs throughout the book showing that digital-technology use and adolescent mental-health problems are rising together. On the first day of the graduate statistics class I teach, I draw similar lines on a board that seem to connect two disparate phenomena, and ask the students what they think is happening. Within minutes, the students usually begin telling elaborate stories about how the two phenomena are related, even describing how one could cause the other. The plots presented throughout this book will be useful in teaching my students the fundamentals of causal inference, and how to avoid making up stories by simply looking at trend lines.

Hundreds of researchers, myself included, have searched for the kind of large effects suggested by Haidt. Our efforts have produced a mix of no, small and mixed associations. Most data are correlative. When associations over time are found, they suggest not that social-media use predicts or causes depression, but that young people who already have mental-health problems use such platforms more often or in different ways from their healthy peers 1 .

These are not just our data or my opinion. Several meta-analyses and systematic reviews converge on the same message 2 – 5 . An analysis done in 72 countries shows no consistent or measurable associations between well-being and the roll-out of social media globally 6 . Moreover, findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, the largest long-term study of adolescent brain development in the United States, has found no evidence of drastic changes associated with digital-technology use 7 . Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, is a gifted storyteller, but his tale is currently one searching for evidence.

Of course, our current understanding is incomplete, and more research is always needed. As a psychologist who has studied children’s and adolescents’ mental health for the past 20 years and tracked their well-being and digital-technology use, I appreciate the frustration and desire for simple answers. As a parent of adolescents, I would also like to identify a simple source for the sadness and pain that this generation is reporting.

A complex problem

There are, unfortunately, no simple answers. The onset and development of mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are driven by a complex set of genetic and environmental factors. Suicide rates among people in most age groups have been increasing steadily for the past 20 years in the United States. Researchers cite access to guns, exposure to violence, structural discrimination and racism, sexism and sexual abuse, the opioid epidemic, economic hardship and social isolation as leading contributors 8 .

How social media affects teen mental health: a missing link

The current generation of adolescents was raised in the aftermath of the great recession of 2008. Haidt suggests that the resulting deprivation cannot be a factor, because unemployment has gone down. But analyses of the differential impacts of economic shocks have shown that families in the bottom 20% of the income distribution continue to experience harm 9 . In the United States, close to one in six children live below the poverty line while also growing up at the time of an opioid crisis, school shootings and increasing unrest because of racial and sexual discrimination and violence.

The good news is that more young people are talking openly about their symptoms and mental-health struggles than ever before. The bad news is that insufficient services are available to address their needs. In the United States, there is, on average, one school psychologist for every 1,119 students 10 .

Haidt’s work on emotion, culture and morality has been influential; and, in fairness, he admits that he is no specialist in clinical psychology, child development or media studies. In previous books, he has used the analogy of an elephant and its rider to argue how our gut reactions (the elephant) can drag along our rational minds (the rider). Subsequent research has shown how easy it is to pick out evidence to support our initial gut reactions to an issue. That we should question assumptions that we think are true carefully is a lesson from Haidt’s own work. Everyone used to ‘know’ that the world was flat. The falsification of previous assumptions by testing them against data can prevent us from being the rider dragged along by the elephant.

A generation in crisis

Two things can be independently true about social media. First, that there is no evidence that using these platforms is rewiring children’s brains or driving an epidemic of mental illness. Second, that considerable reforms to these platforms are required, given how much time young people spend on them. Many of Haidt’s solutions for parents, adolescents, educators and big technology firms are reasonable, including stricter content-moderation policies and requiring companies to take user age into account when designing platforms and algorithms. Others, such as age-based restrictions and bans on mobile devices, are unlikely to be effective in practice — or worse, could backfire given what we know about adolescent behaviour.

A third truth is that we have a generation in crisis and in desperate need of the best of what science and evidence-based solutions can offer. Unfortunately, our time is being spent telling stories that are unsupported by research and that do little to support young people who need, and deserve, more.

Nature 628 , 29-30 (2024)

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Miller, J., Mills, K. L., Vuorre, M., Orben, A. & Przybylski, A. K. Cortex 169 , 290–308 (2023).

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Children’s Books

In These Books, the Parents Are the Problem

The children in three illustrated satirical tales are up against something far more complex than ogres, witches and big bad wolves.

• Share full article

By Jon Agee

Jon Agee is the author, most recently, of the picture book “My Dad Is a Tree.”

Children’s books have long featured pint-size heroes overcoming fierce antagonists: ogres, witches and big bad wolves. So it comes as no surprise that a similar drama occurs in these three stories. Only here, children are up against something far more complex: their parents.

These moms and pops — by turns cruel, overprotective, distracted or obtuse — are less than ideal role models. But children (we expect) will prevail. And parents (we hope) will grow up.

In the opening scene of the cartoonist Gary Clement’s K IS IN TROUBLE (Little, Brown Ink, 224 pp., $13.99, ages 8 to 12) , young K, feeling “particularly unwell,” asks his mother if he might stay home from school. Her response — a full-frame, all-caps “NO” — is a blunt foreshadowing of events. Nothing in these pages will come easily for poor K.

After a grim breakfast, K is out the door, walking through a wintry turn-of-the-century city filled with unsmiling grown-ups.

Finally, we see K’s school: a castle-like structure atop a mountain. Since K is late, he is sent to a vast, windowless room, where he awaits some imminent judgment. Much time passes. K even forgets why he’s there. One thing, though, is clear: He’s at the center of a lively graphic novel, inspired by Franz Kafka.

K’s troubles unfold in five chapters. In one, he is harassed by a flock of crows. In another, he is tormented by pompous bureaucrats. And in an especially thrilling scene, he is chased through the streets of the city by an angry mob. You can’t help pulling for K, even if his misfortune is hugely entertaining.

Clement’s artwork — pen and ink, with gouache — treats this nightmarish tale with lightness and wit. In one frame, K is seen as a tiny figure in the center of a vortex of pen lines. In others, he’s the target of pointing fingers or dwarfed by enormous file cabinets.

There is much to admire, from the restrained, sneaky-funny prose, to the shifts between narration and dialogue, to the playful use of lettering in the talk balloons. The result is visual storytelling at the highest level.

There is satire here, and in one section — when K befriends a talking beetle — there are moments of tenderness. Which is why, in the wake of K’s final appeal to his coldhearted father, I half-expected there would be a sign of hope. There wasn’t. After all, that would hardly be Kafkaesque!

For a story that features parents who genuinely care, there is Ziggy Hanaor’s THE EGG INCIDENT (Cicada, 72 pp., $19.99, ages 8 to 12) . The fact is, this mom-and-pop duo cares too much. But then, you would too if your child were a large, fragile egg, about to step out for his first solo stroll in the busy city. Much caution is advised. Most important, Humphrey is forbidden from sitting on walls. There was, after all, the infamous incident with his uncle, Humpty.

So, dutiful son heeds risk-averse parents. He makes his way, baby step by baby step, across a busy intersection, into an idyllic park. Here he meets a spunky young princess, PJ, who tries, and fails, to get him to loosen up.

When the park closes, however, and the front gate is locked, the only way out is — uh-huh! — over a tall brick wall. Humphrey has no choice, and with a boost from PJ he reaches the summit.

Of course, what goes up must come plummeting down.

Don’t fret! No eggs are broken in this book. In fact, Humphrey’s near-splat experience fills him with such zest that even his shellshocked parents can’t resist joining in the fun.

This short graphic novel is a fast-paced read, thanks in large part to Daisy Wynter’s dynamic illustrations. Motion lines, hand-lettered sounds and dramatic page turns are used to great effect. And kids will get a kick out of Humphrey’s expressive reaction shots.

The story comes with a surprising epilogue. If you’ve ever wondered what really happened to Humpty, well, it’ll crack you up.

When children act out, parents have the unenviable task of setting them straight. What parent hasn’t told a fidgety child to “stop squirming!”? Or a howling child to “keep your voice down!”? But what if the squirmer is a worm, and the howler is a wolf?

In YOU BROKE IT! (Rise x Penguin Workshop, 48 pp., $18.99, ages 3 to 5) , Liana Finck takes a slew of familiar parent–child encounters and cleverly places them in a new context.

When a pig berates its muddy piglet for getting dirty, and a tornado scolds its raging progeny for “making a mess,” the joke is squarely on mom and dad.

Finck’s pen-and-ink drawings, like her deftly minimalist New Yorker cartoons, extract unexpected humor from just the right number of lines.

The litany of parental exclamations comes to a sudden end when a defiant young octopus explains to its parent exactly why it can't keep its hands — or, tentacles — to itself.

This serves as the book’s punchline, one that human children will understand all too well.

What follows is a warm 16-tentacled embrace, which gives this high-concept spoof a heart.

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“City in Ruins” is the third novel in Don Winslow’s Danny Ryan trilogy and, he says, his last book. He’s retiring in part to invest more time into political activism .

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Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

The mass appeal of Anne Lamott

‘somehow’ shows off the author’s gift for writing powerfully, deeply, often radically, while appealing to just about everyone.

The title of Anne Lamott’s 20th book is also an apt descriptor of the author’s extraordinary four-decade career. “ Somehow ,” after publishing four quiet, quirky Northern California novels between 1980 and 1989, Lamott sidestepped the fate of many authors with modest sales: beloved by few, unknown to most, destined to fade into literary oblivion. Instead, Lamott changed her genre, and her life. In 1989, single, poor and pregnant, she had a baby on her own, sustained by the kinds of boho characters who populated her novels. In 1993, she wrote a memoir about it. “ Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year ” plucked quirky, iconoclastic Lamott out of the margins and morphed her into a best-selling author — a status cemented by her next book, the instant classic “ Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life .”

No list of writing guides is complete without “Bird by Bird,” whose 25th anniversary edition was published in 2020, and whose sales now number in the millions. Lamott has since published three more novels and 10 more best-selling nonfiction books, including “ Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son ,” the 2012 sequel to her first memoir. Her 2017 TED Talk has been viewed more than 2.8 million times, possibly because somehow Lamott unfurls a capacious umbrella over groups of people so disparate, they’d rather stand in the rain than stand together: White Christians, Black Christians, hipsters, dog moms, baby moms, feminists, addicts, left-wing activists, the very poor, the very rich. Somehow, in her TED Talks and public appearances and in the 10 “wisdom books” she’s written in the past 25 years, Lamott, who is also a contributing columnist at The Washington Post , has kept digging deep enough, writing lyrically enough, taking the whole thing just seriously enough, to make each one a hit.

As she relates in “Somehow: Thoughts on Love , ” Lamott has somehow (actually, on a senior dating site) found her Neal, and, three days after receiving her first Social Security check, became a first-time bride. In her trademark godly yet snarky way, she extracts every life lesson from her latest new experience with the deft zeal of a chef reducing flour and fat to roux. “Love is compassion,” she writes, “which Neal defines as the love that arises in the presence of suffering. Are love and compassion up to the stark realities we face at the dinner table, and down the street, and at the melting ice caps, or within Iranian nuclear plants and our own Congress? Maybe, I think so. Somehow.”

Lamott writes not only of love’s glories but also of its quotidian impossibilities, keeping the reader gripping the passenger seat as she navigates love’s hairpin turns. What Christian, what addict, what Marin County socialite will not relate to the “basic format” of Lamott’s fights with her husband, which she relays in the third person as if narrating a play? “Every so often Annie does not get her way, or Neal says something superior and provocative. … Annie shuts down and becomes as quiet as the grave, while waiting for Neal to realize the gravity of his mistake. … Annie and Neal sit together grimly on the couch, ignoring each other while Annie thinks about how all men are pigs.”

At times, “Somehow” made me huffy about — by which I mean envious of — Lamott’s gift for writing powerfully, deeply, often radically, while appealing to, well, everyone. Who does this Lamott person think she is, dispensing advice like some dreadlocked, distaff Dr. Phil? “Be goodness with skin on. … Plant bulbs in the winter, help the poor, and light candles in the dark to see where you are, where you’ve been, what remains, and how much still works just fine.”

But then, on the next page, Lamott’s humble, hilarious self-awareness made this cynic tumble for her all over again. “My lifelong cross to bear has been secret derisive judgment, a pinball machine of sizing up everything and everyone. I am working on it, but the healing is going slightly more slowly than one would hope.”

No matter a Lamott book’s title, no matter the theme of the yarns that burst from its pages like clowns from a circus car, its message is the same irresistible combo of love, hope, faith and laughter. “I thought the secret of life was obvious,” the protagonist of Lamott’s first novel, “ Hard Laughter ,” reflects. “Be here now, love as if your whole life depended on it, find your life’s work, and try to get hold of a giant panda.” In “Somehow,” she offers hefty doses of each, save the panda, somehow treading the line between terminal positivity and depressing realism. She writes about the catastrophic wildfires that devastated her beloved Northern California, somehow leaving the reader inspired. “People showed up and spontaneously said things like, ‘The traffic lights are out. I’ll station myself at this intersection all day long and help direct traffic.’ … Thousands of people showed up across the state during our worst fires with bikes and maps, figuring out how to get to someone who might be cut off, and how to bring them water, a little medical aid, some food and love.”

It will spoil nothing to tell you that Lamott closes “Somehow” with a quote from her favorite William Blake poem: “And we are put on earth a little space, that we may learn to bear the beams of love.” Like the book’s title, its conclusion is apt. No matter one’s external descriptors, Lamott speaks to the human in all of us, challenging us to bear her beam of love, and our own.

Meredith Maran is a journalist, a critic and the author of “ The New Old Me : My Late-Life Reinvention,” among other books.

Thoughts on Love

By Anne Lamott

Riverhead. 208 pp. $22

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