Class Act (sequel to New Kid) by Jerry Craft

Class Act is, quite simply, everything you could want in a sequel. Jordan Banks returns for his second year at the exclusive RAD (Riverdale Academy Day School) along with his friends Drew Ellis and Liam Landers. Though Jordan and Drew are two of the few African Americans at RAD, they are grappling with different issues. Jordan still would rather go to art school, but his mother insists he get an education at RAD, while his dad is a little more understanding. Jordan is also worried about his physical self. All the other boys are tall and more manly smelling, but Jordan is still much shorter, less developed and has no body odor, not even after a gym workout.  

Drew, on the other hand, returns to school taller and stronger. He also has a new hairstyle, one that some of the non-Black students can't keep themselves from touching no matter how often he asks them to stop. Drew is also having issues about being a Black scholarship student in a predominately white school. Drew, who lives with his hard working grandmother in Co-Op City, must two buses from one part of the Bronx to get to RAD in a wealthy section of the Bronx, while other students arrive by car or limo. What he sees begins to come to a head when his clueless principal tells Drew that RAD is making an effort to promote diversity, equality and inclusion and has adopted an urban sister school and would like Drew to show them around when the students visit. Their visit highlights for Drew the contrast between resources at RAD and their school, which lacks so much including a decent library and cafeteria.  

After he and Jordan visit very wealthy Liam over Thanksgiving break, Drew finds that he is having a hard time with his feelings of the unfairness of things and maintaining his friendship with Liam. As long as their friendship is on campus or at Liam's home, Drew feels uncomfortable. Can he find a way to navigate their friendship so that they are able to see, respect, and support each other mutually?

I loved New Kid so I was really anxious to read Class Act. But it is a great sequel and yet, it can stand alone. I liked the focus on Drew because it allowed Jerry Craft to center the story on him and what his life is like. Jordan is a smart, light-skinned, middle class African American who lives with loving parents; Liam is a smart, very rich, privileged, blond haired white kid who lives in a mansion with an absentee father and a socialite mother; by contrast, Drew is a smart, athletic, dark-skinned working class African American living with his loving grandmother. 

Beside these socioeconomic differences, these three kids also enable Craft to address issues of how differently people are treated based on their skin color. Jordan captures the way teachers and students treat him differently than how they treat Drew in one of his black and white two-page comic commentaries that are scattered through the story.

I was happy to see that Craft address the issue of unwanted hair touching after Drew grows his out. Jordan also illustrates this in his comic commentary. This is something that apparently white people do, but I don't quite understand why, I just know it's wrong. And yes, there are other cringe-worthy microaggressions throughout, especially thanks to Drew's nemesis Andy, who for a period has green skin and is teased about it. Would such an experience change a person? It should.

And while so much of this novel may sound heavy and serious, there is plenty of humor throughout. To begin with, at the beginning of every chapter is a parody of covers from other loved graphic novels, beginning with the Wimpy Kid, and including New Kid.  

I can't recommend this novel and its predecessor highly enough. The format is perfect, the message in spot on and resonates so well in today's world. Don't miss it and if you haven't read New Kid yet, what are you waiting for?

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was an eARC received from Edelweiss+

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.

American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar

Eleven-year-old Lekha Divekar may be a first generation Indian American, but she couldn't be prouder of her Indian heritage, culture, and her Hindu faith. And there's nothing Lekha enjoys more than a good Bollywood movie, some delicious Indian food, and playing raas at home with her best friend Noah. But these enjoyments belong only to the at-home Lekha. At-school Lekha is a different story. 

As the only Desi* in her school in Oakridge, Michigan, Lekha tries her hardest to fit in and not be noticed. But that's kind of hard when she has a dark-brown birthmark in the spot on her forehead where a bindi would normally go. This earns her the unwanted nickname Dot by a white boy named Liam, who seems to have it out for her. Each time she passes him, he asks "What reeks, Dot?" in a sneering, condescending way and insinuating that Indians smell and adding to her feelings self-consciousness. Is it the wonderful Bengali food her mother makes and that she enjoys so much, or the coconut oil she uses in her hair, or none of this and just plain racism? she wondered. His mocking only increases when Lekha makes the school swim team and Liam doesn't, making fun of her for not shaving her legs:"She needs a lawn mower." to the delight of his friends. And how does Lekha deal with these insults and other microagressions, like students and teachers always mispronouncing her name and not correcting them? "I knew exactly how loud my voice would be when facing a bully. It would be totally silent." 

When a new girl moves in across the street, Lekha couldn't be happier. At last, a Desi friend at school and someone who would soon get what it is like to have two lives, an Indian life at home and an American life at school. But Avantika Savarkar may be fob (fresh off the boat), but she is also a proud Indian and doesn't care who knows it. And she is not afraid to stand up to Liam and his racist bullying. Lekha is amazed at this brave girl who speaks accented English and brings homemade Indian food for lunch, but she still wishes to just fit in and not be noticed.

When a white candidate runs for Congress on an anti-immigrant platform with the slogan "DON'T LIKE IT? LEAVE, Lekha refuses to even think about it, unlike her friend Noah. Noah has always been annoyed that Lekha refuses to speak up when she's make fun of. Even after a racist incident is directed at her family over the Christmas holidays happens, Lekha keeps her mouth shut about it and is only angry that Noah writes about it and it is published in the school paper for everyone to read. 

When a violent hate crime impacts her family and people she loves, will it be enough to get Lekha to finally find her voice to speak out against the racism she and her family face day after day and stand up for the culture she loves so much?

I found American as Paneer Pie to be an interesting novel and Lekha a very complex, flawed character as she grows and changes over the course of sixth grade. She is the first person narrator and while she can sound a little whiny and self-pitying at times, readers (myself included) need to remember, racism and xenophobia aren't occasional incidents in her life. It's also the ongoing day-to-day barrage of microaggressions, like not bothering to learn how to pronounce her name, comments about smelly Indian food, a pushy white swim teammate named Aidy insisting they lost a match because Lekha didn't shave her legs, even though it was Aidy's poor performance that caused the loss.

While this is a story that nicely highlights Lekha's journey toward discovering the power of her own voice, Kelkar has included a richly detailed picture of her Indian family's life, including lots of interesting references to their culture, traditions, and, of course, food. One thing that did bother me was that there is no glossary for the many Indian reference that are probably not going to be familiar to many readers. 

If you are looking for a thought-provoking, accessible novel that presents difficult but timely themes in an age appropriate way, then look no further than American as Paneer Pie. A recipe for Paneer Pie is included. 

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was an ARC provided by the publisher, Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

*Wondering what the word Desi means? So was I. Very simply put, the online Oxford dictionary defines it as "a person of Indian, Bangladeshi or Pakistani birth or descent who lives aboard." Desi comes from the Sanskrit deśa meaning country or home. 

The Year of the Rat written and illustrated by Grace Lin

The Year of the Rat has arrived and the Lin family, Pacy, her mom and dad, older sister Lissy and young sister KiKi are celebrating with the Ling family - Mr. and Mrs. Ling, Pacy's best friend Melody, and her two brothers. The Lins and Lings are the only Taiwanese families in New Hartford, NY, where they live.

But when Pacy teases Lissy during dinner, she's told not to say anything rude or bad on the New Year, especially since the Year of the Rat symbolizes changes and new beginnings and you don't want those to be bad. But change is exactly what begins to happen. First, Pacy learns that Melody's dad is being transferred to California and Melody will be moving away. Her dad's company is sending a new family from China to work in NY and live in her house. Pacy and Melody promise to keep in touch, even sending each other books that they've read.

There are still more changes in store for Pacy when favorite older fun-but-still-not-an-adult cousin Clifford announces that he had met a girl when he was working in Taiwan and now they are engaged to be married in the summer.

After Melody leaves and the new Chinese boy shows up at school, Pacy ignores him and the two boys who are always making fun of him and his name - Dun Wei becomes Dumb Way. And even though Dun Wei doesn't speak much English yet, it's clear he understands that he is being made fun of. As far as Pacy is concerned, Dun Wei is the enemy for replacing Melody, and as Lissy explains, he's also 'fresh off the boat' Chinese, meaning someone who has just arrived in the US and who doesn't know how to be American yet.

Hanging out with old friends Becky and Charlotte brings other changes, as well. The remarks they make about Chinese people and how they always want to hook her up to Dun Wei when they talk about boyfriends because they are the only Chinese students in the school really begin to bother Pacy. Why don't they ever think to hook her up to Steve Mercer? After all, that's the boy Pacy is crushing on and they know it.

Then, Pacy, who had decided to be an author and illustrator of books as an adult, learns about the "cold door" she suddenly finds herself questioning her destiny. In Chinese culture, the cold door represents choosing a hard path in life for oneself, similar to the Western idea of the starving artist. Is this a choice she should rethink?

The first half of the Year of the Rat is full of what feels like unwelcome changes, but in the last half of the year, Pacy learns some important lessons about change and destiny that refocus her whole way of looking at things. Umm..., maybe change and new beginnings are so bad after all.

Here are some of the things I really liked about The Year of the Rat:

This is the third Pacy Lin novel I've read and I felt like I really knew the fictional Lin family at this point (see The Year of the Dog and Dumpling Days). So in many ways, it was a comfort read.

This year, without Melody by her side and seeing how unkind the other students are to Dun Wei, Pacy becomes much more aware of the kind of microaggressions she's always heard but ignored. But can Pacy find the strength to stand up to them and finally say something to the kids making those? Even before she can say something to others, however, Pacy will have to look at her prejudice regarding 'fresh-off-the-boat' Dun Wei being Chinese and not Taiwanese.

Like the previous Pacy Lin books, The Year of the Rat is full of Chinese culture, traditions, and legends and Grace Lin has woven them into the story seamlessly. Readers will discover why the rat is an admired animal on the Chinese zodiac; they will learn how easy it is to make a mistake when choosing your lunch and still learning English, and they will be introduced to traditional Chinese dishes that made my mouth water. Grace Lin has sprinkled fun black and white line illustrations throughout they book and at the end, she has includes photos of herself, her family, and best friend Alvina, the real life people Pacy's fictional life is based on.

I really enjoyed revisiting Pacy, her family and friends and I'm sure your young readers will enjoy reading about them, as well. And what better time to read The Year of the Rat than in the Year of the Rat.

新年快乐
(Happy New Year to You)

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.