Children’s author and illustrator Jerry Craft grew up knowing he was different. Craft grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City, but attended the prestigious Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, NY.
While some may think Craft’s partly autobiographical books portray stark adversity, he said it’s quite the contrary.
“When you look at so many descriptions of books when I was a kid, they always use the word grit,” Craft said. “And I'm like the only grits I want sometimes are with my eggs in the morning,” Craft said.
While books about systemic racism are necessary, not every child wants to read harrowing tales of survival, according to Craft.
“I just wanted to give kids a book that they could relax and know that the character was going to make it to the end of the book and have a loving family and friends,” Craft said.
Craft, who also spent 20 years living in Norwalk, Connecticut, said his books focus on universal experiences. Craft’s Newbery Award winning book "New Kid," portrays the day-to-day lives of different Black students at a prestigious private school.
The students wonder if their friends like them for who they are, while struggling with their identities as privileged students all while grappling with their home lives outside of the school.
They face petty annoyances, from librarians who give white students fantasy novels to read, but recommend they read harrowing inner-city tales of survival. But Craft’s characters also live happy lives.
Craft travels across the country and in Connecticut, giving presentations and speaking with teachers and students. He said people have responded well, mentioning an English professor.
“She said she got a copy of "New Kid," and she started reading it, and she really enjoyed it, and then she skipped to the last chapter to read it, to make sure that all of the kids were still alive,” Craft said.
Instead Craft’s stories trade violence for the comedic sendups of awkward situations his characters face, forced into standing in for entire populations of people.
“I just wanted to show the nuances … they're like, ‘OK, today we're going to talk about Black History Month, or we're going to talk about Roberto Clemente, or something like that, where all the kids in the class will turn and look at you and stare,” Craft said.
His books have proven to be so popular, a film adaptation of "New Kid" is in the works, but Craft said development has stalled as of now.
“There's such a weird timing now that I think everything is on hold, with all the studios being sold and this happening, and the whole anti-DEI message that's going on,” Craft said. “We are going to kind of take it easy for a minute and wait for the dust to clear.”
Craft’s books also portray genuine interracial friendships and he says some of his biggest fans are white students.
"New Kid," published in 2019, became a best seller and gained critical acclaim. However, it also faced bans in states across the country, having been caught up in larger controversies over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in recent years.
Many similar bans, it turns out, were led by outside special interest groups, according to previous reporting from Connecticut Public. Craft said he noticed no one who read the books complained to him about the subject matter.
The bans have since begun to subside, but he’s still guarded.
“It's a little better today, although there are catchphrases … in one of my books, I use the word woke, and that sent people into a tizzy, you know,” Craft said. “I try not to self-censor in a way that it will hamper my creativity.’
But seeing how his own children navigated similar experiences at New Canaan Country School, which he said they loved, helped shape his series of children’s books.
“It was a lot about experiencing it myself firsthand as a student and then watching it from a distance as a parent,” Craft said. “That let me put together a well rounded story, like 'New Kid.'”
