For the first time since it's inception in 1921, the Newbery Medal has been won by a graphic novel.
The Newbery Medal is an annual award given to the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year by the American Library Association. It is named after the eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery.
The winning book is about a student Jordan Banks, an African American who transfers to the school where he's a minority. He notices the microaggressions and even racist treatment he faces here. The book explores the privilege some have without realising it and the racism some face daily.
“This distinct, timely, and honest story respects children and gives its readers a glimpse into what it means to be other,” said Newbery Medal Committee Chair Krishna Grady.
Jerry Craft said he wishes his book can help pave a path for stories which have African American protagonists but “are not driven by misery.”
“There are very important books that talk about slavery and civil rights or police brutality or gang life, but I really wanted to add to their narrative by adding a boy who has a mom and a dad, a family who loves him, a support system, neighbors,” he told the School Library Journal, “You don’t have to worry about anything bad happening, anyone meeting an unexpected demise. [It's] something a kid can just read and relax and be like, ‘Wow I actually feel good reading this. I actually laughed.’ That’s not something I ever had growing up.
“More than anything, I wanted to give 10-year-old Jerry Craft a book he could read and say was his own. That was probably the reason I was not a reader until I was an adult. The things I had to read in school couldn’t have been further from my life. Or if it was someone who looked like me, it couldn’t be further from the life I wanted to live when I got older.”
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