= Partner SiteNew Kid Reading Level: A Complete Guide
New Kid is a 2019 middle-grade graphic novel by Jerry Craft that follows seventh-grader Jordan Banks as he navigates life between two worlds: his Washington Heights neighborhood and the predominantly white private school his parents have sacrificed to send him to. This guide covers the book’s reading level, age appropriateness, themes, characters, and teaching resources for parents and educators.
For Parents
New Kid is an engaging, funny, and emotionally honest graphic novel perfect for middle-grade readers navigating identity, belonging, and friendship. Its visual format makes it accessible to reluctant readers, while its themes spark meaningful family conversations about race, class, and what it means to fit in. The content is age-appropriate with no language or violence concerns.
For Teachers
A 2020 Newbery Medal winner and Coretta Scott King Award winner, New Kid is a classroom staple for grades 4–7. It’s an excellent mentor text for discussions on microaggressions, code-switching, and identity. The graphic novel format supports visual literacy instruction, and Jordan’s dual sketchbook narrative offers strong opportunities for writing and self-reflection assignments.
New Kid at a Glance
Find on Amazon →| Author | Jerry Craft |
| Published | 2019 |
| Grade Level | 4–7 (our assessment) |
| Recommended Age | 9–13 |
| Flesch-Kincaid Grade | 2.8 (graphic novel text; emotional complexity is higher) |
| Word Count | ~5,000 (graphic novel format) |
| Pages | 256 |
| Chapters | 9 chapters + epilogue |
| Genre | Graphic novel / realistic fiction |
| Setting | Washington Heights, New York City; Riverdale Academy Day School |
| Awards | Newbery Medal (2020), Coretta Scott King Award (2020), Kirkus Prize |
For official Lexile and AR levels, visit Lexile.com or AR BookFinder. ReadingVine provides independent editorial assessments.
What Reading Level Is New Kid?
ReadingVine places New Kid at a grade 4–7 reading level, which reflects the book’s intended audience and emotional complexity rather than its word-level difficulty alone. Because it is a graphic novel, much of the storytelling happens through Craft’s illustrations, and the printed text is relatively brief and conversational. A Flesch-Kincaid analysis of the dialogue and narration yields a score around 2.8—but that number significantly undersells the book.
The themes Jordan wrestles with—racial identity, socioeconomic differences, microaggressions, and belonging—are thoroughly middle-grade in scope. Readers in grades 4–7 will find the most resonance, and the book is particularly well-suited for students who are themselves navigating transitions between social environments. Stronger readers as young as grade 3 can enjoy the story, but the thematic depth rewards older readers most.
For official scores, visit Lexile.com or AR BookFinder.
What Age Is New Kid Appropriate For?
ReadingVine recommends New Kid for readers ages 9–13. The book is free of profanity, sexual content, and graphic violence. The social and emotional content—dealing with feeling out of place, subtle racism, and pressure from multiple communities—is handled with care and age-appropriate nuance. Most children in this range will find it deeply relatable, and younger readers who have experienced school transitions or social pressures may connect with it even more directly.
The book addresses microaggressions and casual racism—teachers and classmates repeatedly mispronounce Jordan’s friend Liam’s last name, confuse Black students for one another, and make assumptions based on race and class. These scenes are realistic and handled thoughtfully, not graphically, and are designed to prompt reflection. There is no violence, no profanity, and no sexual content of any kind. The book is widely assigned beginning in 4th grade.
What Is New Kid About?
Twelve-year-old Jordan Banks dreams of attending the art school across town, but his parents enroll him in Riverdale Academy Day School—a prestigious private school far from his Washington Heights neighborhood. Jordan is one of very few students of color at Riverdale, and he quickly discovers that fitting in means something different depending on which world he’s in. At school, he’s expected to be something he’s not sure he is. At home in his neighborhood, his private school life feels just as foreign.
Told through Jordan’s perspective—including glimpses of his sketchbook comics, where he processes his experiences through humor and fantasy—the story follows his first year at Riverdale. He makes new friends, including the good-natured Drew and the wealthy-but-kind Andy, while dealing with a teacher who can’t distinguish him from the only other Black boy in class, a classmate who thinks he’s tougher than he is, and a social world that constantly asks him to code-switch. Meanwhile, Jordan keeps his two worlds largely separate, unsure they could ever truly meet.
At its heart, New Kid is a story about figuring out who you are when different people expect different things from you—and about finding the courage to be all of yourself at once. Jerry Craft drew on his own experiences attending a predominantly white private school to write the story, giving it an authenticity that rings true on every page.
New Kid Characters
Is New Kid Banned?
New Kid has been challenged and removed from some school districts since its publication. It appeared on the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books, most notably in 2021 when a Texas school district removed it—along with its sequel Class Act—from shelves and curriculum. Objections have centered on the book’s frank portrayal of racial dynamics, microaggressions, and what some critics described as critical race theory content. Supporters, educators, and the broader literary community have widely pushed back on these challenges, and the book remains assigned in thousands of classrooms across the country. Its Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award status have helped maintain its standing as an important and affirmed work of children’s literature.
New Kid Themes and Lessons
The central theme of New Kid is the tension between multiple identities. Jordan exists at the intersection of his neighborhood community and his school world, and he often feels like a different version of himself depending on where he is. Craft explores how exhausting and disorienting it is to code-switch—to adjust language, behavior, and presentation to meet the expectations of different social environments—without ever feeling fully authentic in either place. Jordan’s sketchbook comics serve as his release valve and his truest self-expression, a reminder that creativity can be a form of resistance and survival.
The book also offers an honest portrayal of how well-intentioned people can still cause harm through assumptions and carelessness. Mr. Roche’s repeated confusion of Jordan and Maury is played partly for dark humor, but it’s also a precise illustration of how invisibility and misrepresentation feel from the inside. For family conversations, the book invites questions like: Have you ever felt like you had to act differently in different places? What does it feel like when someone doesn’t see you for who you really are? What makes a place feel safe and welcoming?
How Many Pages and Chapters Are in New Kid?
New Kid is 256 pages in its standard hardcover and paperback editions, divided into 9 chapters plus an epilogue. Because it is a graphic novel, the page count moves quickly—most readers in the target age range finish the book in one to three sittings. The estimated reading time for an independent reader ages 9–13 is 2–4 hours. For a family read-aloud, plan for 4–6 sessions of about 30–40 minutes each, allowing time to discuss the illustrations together.
Books Similar to New Kid
About Jerry Craft
Jerry Craft is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator who grew up in New York City and attended a predominantly white private school—an experience that forms the backbone of New Kid and its sequel, Class Act. He is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts and spent years creating the comic strip Mama’s Boyz, which was syndicated in newspapers and won multiple Glyph Comics Awards. New Kid was his debut middle-grade novel and made history in 2020 as the first graphic novel ever to win the Newbery Medal. Craft has spoken widely about his mission to create books where Black children see themselves as the hero of their own story—not the sidekick, not the lesson, but the protagonist.
New Kid: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the reading level of New Kid by Jerry Craft?
ReadingVine places New Kid at a grade 4–7 reading level. The text itself reads at approximately a 2nd–3rd grade word level because it is a graphic novel with conversational dialogue, but the emotional and thematic complexity is firmly middle-grade. It is widely assigned and recommended for readers ages 9–13.
Did New Kid win the Newbery Medal?
Yes. New Kid won the Newbery Medal in 2020, making it the first graphic novel in history to receive that honor. The same year, it also won the Coretta Scott King Award for Author, recognizing its outstanding contribution by an African American author.
Is New Kid appropriate for 4th graders?
Yes, New Kid is appropriate for most 4th graders. There is no profanity, violence, or sexual content. The book does portray microaggressions and racial dynamics in an age-appropriate, honest way. Many 4th grade classrooms use it as a read-aloud or independent reading assignment, and the graphic novel format tends to engage a wide range of readers at that grade level.
Why was New Kid banned or challenged?
New Kid has been challenged in several school districts, most prominently in Texas in 2021. Objections have typically focused on its portrayal of racial microaggressions and its frank discussion of race and class in school settings, with some critics characterizing it as promoting critical race theory. The book remains widely assigned, and its removal has been opposed by educators, librarians, and literacy organizations nationwide.
Is there a sequel to New Kid?
Yes. Jerry Craft wrote Class Act (2020) as a direct sequel, told from the perspective of Jordan’s friend Drew Ellis as he navigates his own complicated relationship with Riverdale Academy. A third book in the series, The Sport of Kings, was published in 2024.
What themes does New Kid explore?
New Kid explores identity, belonging, race, class, code-switching, friendship, and self-expression through art. At its core, the book is about what it feels like to move between two very different worlds without fully belonging to either—and how a young person finds their authentic self in the middle of that tension.
Is New Kid based on a true story?
While New Kid is a work of fiction, Jerry Craft has said it is closely inspired by his own experience attending a predominantly white private school in New York City as a child. The emotional truth of the story—the feeling of being caught between two worlds—is drawn directly from his life.
How long does it take to read New Kid?
New Kid is 256 pages in graphic novel format. Most readers in the target age range (9–13) finish it in 2–4 hours of reading time. It moves quickly due to the visual storytelling format and is often completed in one or two sittings.
