Craft-ing Fan Letters

 This past week, my students and I finished reading our class read-aloud. The book was New Kid by Jerry Craft. The students ADORED the book and would beg for more time, or "just one more chapter". The book took me so long to read because I did something I never do - I wrote down student comments. I hadn't planned on recording their reactions, but they had such intelligent things to say that I couldn't help it. This slowed down our reading of the book tremendously, but the students really felt like their ideas and opinions mattered. When I suggested that we just read the book, without interruptions, many of them objected. There were times that I just couldn't keep up with all the raised hands eager to share their thoughts, so part-way through the novel, I suggested that students use sticky notes to capture their observations and connections. This led to even more participation, as students who were more introverted or quiet could still share their views without competing with their extroverted classmates. 

Once I finished reading the book, I tweeted my/our appreciation to Jerry Craft, and He. Wrote. Back!

I was thrilled. I printed out the tweet and showed the paper and electronic copy to them and they loved it! We were inspired to show our appreciation even more. The students wrote a MASSIVE fan letter to Jerry Craft, which I sent via his website.

I asked for the class' permission to replicate their letter here, on my blog, and they all gave their consent. I am going to XXXX out the names of specific students, to protect their privacy.

Dear Mr. Craft,

We are Grade 5-6 students from Agnes Macphail Public School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For the past  two months, we have been reading your debut book novel, New Kid, aloud in class. It took us so long to complete your because we had so many things to say about it and our teacher kept writing down our wise words. We were compelled to write to you to let you know how much we appreciate your graphic novel. 

The plot of New Kid is surprising and emotional. For example, RXXX likes the subplot about Alexandra’s hand, because it was so surprising that Jordan thought her hand was extremely injured. When Alexandra showed her hand to the crowd, her hand only had a little bruise. MXXXXXX likes that the plot has a lot of twists and turns like on page 218 when Jordan yelled at Mrs. Rawle for looking in his sketchbook. EXXX likes the part of the plot when Ashley was Drew’s Secret Santa, but Drew thought it was Andy because the gifts he got looked racist.

Your book, New Kid, is filled with funny moments. For example, near the end of the book when Jordan said to Drew, “Come closer” and then shoves Oscar into Drew’s face on page 234! It was funny because it’s like the “bonk” meme and that is funny. Another example is when Jordan got super-bored in art class, his brain practically shut down and he felt old on page 172-3; it was humorous because it’s funny seeing an old Jordan and the shutoff is very funny how it’s drawn. When Jordan met Alexandra in the rain, Jordan knew that girls kiss during awkward pauses in shows/movies and he didn’t want that so he stalled for a long time on page 184; it was hilarious because if it did happen, there would be an extreme reaction. When everyone won’t sign Andy’s yearbook, he said “Why won’t anyone sign my yearbook?” on page 236. This situation was pretty funny because people are being rude to him and Andy gets a taste of his own medicine.

The illustrations are amazing. We like Jordan’s drawings from his sketchbook because they don’t have much colour. Jordan’s sketches look very realistic like our sketchbooks and we like them. All of the illustrations in general are very original with a unique style. LXXXX likes the drawing of Alexandra’s zombie hand because it looked scary. The drawings look very 3D but at the same time they look 2D. In Chapter 5, we like how Jordan and the RAD team were shivering in soccer. The front cover was so fabulous. It looks realistic. The pictures fit with the metaphors very well. We like how the sport moments, such as Jordan’s goal, were drawn with magnificent details. The drawings make Jordan and the other characters look very approachable and we adore them because the drawings go with the characters and words and they feel extremely authentic.

We really like your characters, especially Jordan because Jordan is very good at expressing his feelings and he does his best to make others fit in, like Alexandra. Alexandra’s story makes lots of sense because she only keeps her puppets on to stop people from thinking she was ugly or weird. Alexandra is really brave too, because she saved her brother, since the hot water burned her instead. Another character we like is Andy because he is really funny but he is also really mean, like when he blamed Draw for pushing him. Some of us have met people like Andy in real life. 

We enjoyed how you included realistic problems in New Kid. When Jordan started attending Riverdale Academy Day School, he faced several issues because of his race. For a long period of time Mrs. Rawle constantly miscalled Jordan and Drew the names of other Black students. Also, this didn’t just happen to the students; Mr. Gardner was mistaken for the coach too. It was not just problems that made it authentic. It was also things that people experienced in everyday life, such as moms going crazy taking pictures and dads checking if you have your wallet, phone, and keys. In addition, Ashley is the “gossip girl” and Andy is the “school bully”. By the way, we admired your creative references and allusions. For example, each chapter has a reference like in Chapter 14, “Rad Men” referred to “Mad Men”.

The themes in New Kid are awesome and important. The message you have put in your book shows that not all people of similar colour are the same, and they should be treated equally. In the book, you show that discrimination is unfair and can be expressed in many ways that are subtle. For example, on page 202, Ms. Rawle accused Drew of doing something without proof. Another example is how Ms. Brickner recommended books about things like slavery to Maury and gave Alex a book that he was not interested in. Ms. Brickner says graphic novels are not real books but our teacher-librarian thinks differently.

Our class broke into small groups to compose this letter, and I (their teacher) think it is a testament to the power of your novel that a) they cared deeply about the quality of their writing, editing carefully and b) they wrote so extensively and prodigiously because they had so much to say. Our class discussions were so meaningful and engaging; students spoke eloquently and insightfully about microaggressions, assumptions, emotions, and personal connections. We look forward to reading your sequel, Class Act, in January 2021. Thank you again for producing a wonderful book.

Let me point out that my students as a whole aren't usually keen writers. The students (as it explains in the letter) broke into small groups to create their paragraphs and I did a "guided writing lesson" (Is that what's it's called? Or was it modelled writing?) where I put together all their paragraphs together and did some minor edits. This is the longest letter I have ever seen students of this age create. They wrote so much (and so well) not for grades, but because they wanted to write to Jerry Craft. This is the power of a good shared book. Reading can lead to writing and even more reading.

Reading aloud matters a lot. In the class across the hall, Ms. Wadia has already read THREE novels by her (and her students') favourite author - the wonderful and talented Canadian Susin Nielsen . Ms. Wadia reads to promote the love of reading in her students, which she notices tends to decline in the intermediate grades. Often, pre-teens and teens do not get the same opportunities to be read to, because people assume that they neither need it nor want it because they can read for themselves. On the contrary - they love it. She does not tie any assessments to the book. They read for pleasure. Farah and Susin know each other, having met at OLA Forest of Reading events, and Susin has also responded to her fans at our school, which delights them immensely.

Thank you, authors such as Jerry Craft and Susin Nielsen, for creating such compelling stories and characters that speak to our hearts.