New Kid by Jerry Craft
Published 2019 · 1 pages · 15,000 words · about 1 hour at an average pace · Coming-of-Age, Graphic Novel, Literary Fiction
How hard is New Kid to read?
New Kid scores 18 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it relatively accessible. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 15 out of 100
- Conversational middle-school vocabulary. Craft writes in the voice of a sharp, observant twelve-year-old. No specialized language.
- Sentence structure: 12 out of 100
- Dialogue-driven graphic novel with short speech bubbles and captions. The visual storytelling carries much of the narrative load.
- Abstraction: 18 out of 100
- Racism is depicted through specific, concrete incidents rather than abstract discussion. The graphic format makes systemic issues visible through visual patterns.
- Information density: 18 out of 100
- Graphic novel format distributes information between text and image. Quick reading but visually dense with details that reward close looking.
- Narrative indirection: 18 out of 100
- The gap between what Jordan says and what he thinks—visible in thought bubbles—creates a form of indirection specific to comics. Otherwise linear.
- Symbolic density: 22 out of 100
- Jordan's sketchbook represents his authentic self. The school map functions as social commentary. Color palette shifts between neighborhoods symbolize code-switching.
- Ironic distance: 22 out of 100
- Jordan's deadpan observations about microaggressions create ironic distance. Craft uses the gap between panels to land comic timing.
- Resolution withholding: 15 out of 100
- Jordan finds his place at school, confronts the microaggressions, and grows. The resolution is satisfying and affirming.
- Structural complexity: 20 out of 100
- Linear graphic novel narrative with embedded fantasy sequences, sketchbook pages, and social maps. Visual storytelling adds layers to simple plot structure.
How New Kid is regarded
New Kid holds a literary regard score of 61 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.