BIBLIOGRAPHY
Craft, Jerry. 2020. Class Act. New York: Quill Tree Books. ISBN: 978-0062885517
PLOT SUMMARY
Life attending the rich Riverdale Academy Day School (RAD) as a Bronx kid is still complicated for Drew, if not more, his second form (8th gade). Despite wanting to start the year off on the right foot with his nemesis Andy, other classmates, and particularly Mr. Roche, continue to dish out microaggressions. For Halloween, Andy’s Hulk bodypaint turns out to be permanent and he finally gets a taste of what it is like to be hyper-visible, to Drew’s sweet pleasure. Mr. Roche asks Drew and another black classmate, Maury, to volunteer as RAD tour guides for visitors from a sister school, Cardi de Academy. The contrast between the haves and have-nots is stark in Chapter 5 as the teens from Cardi realize just how under sourced their school is compared to RAD.
Likewise, Drew feels that stark socioeconomic contrast as a guest in the Landers’ home. After visiting Liam’s mansion, Drew debates if a friendship with Liam is worth nurturing if their future lifestyles will never align. Adding to his identity crisis, Drew gets in a confrontation with his childhood friend Wendell after he claims he is acting “all proper” since attending RAD (152). Being accused of not being authentic forces Drew to push Liam away for weeks. Drew gets wisdom imparted by an unassuming guru, Pigmund Freud: Alexandra’s hand puppet. Drew realizes Alexandra is not afraid of openly being who she is. Their chat convinces him to finally speak to Liam about his feelings.
Chapter 11 features a “special assembly” that attempts to honor Black heritage with a showing of a movie featuring the rough ‘hood life, based on a book written by a white woman. Assuming all Black people are struggling, non-black RAD students take pity and offer inconsequential “reparations” (202), that the Black students nonetheless comically accept.
The emotional labor continues until right before break when Mr. Roche is declared chair of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (instead of a more capable Black professor) and invites second form students to their first Students of Color Konnect (S.O.C.K.) meeting. The first affinity group turns out to be quite politically incorrect, but Andy seems to have an epiphany— or at least a realization— by the end of the meeting.
The graphic novel ends with Liam visiting Jordan’s and Drew’s families, eating comfort food, and playing sports in the community center with Jordan’s childhood friends. Having been uncomfortable in each of their environments, Liam’s receptive visit to the Bronx strengthens the trio’s bond, and Jordan’s resolve to also accept who he is: a cartoonist!
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Class Act adds its ownvoice to the antiracist movement of 2020. As suggested to readers in his dedication page, Craft delivers a kind, fair, and authentic view into Black culture and experience in New York city.
Jordan, from Washington Heights, Manhattan, feels uncomfortable with Liam’s privilege but he is not as bothered by it as Drew. Jordan’s parents are professionals and his dreams can more easily materialize into goals within his support network of encouraging family members and community resources. Drew, living in Co-op city in the Bronx, also gets academic encouragement from his grandmother, but she works long hours. Financially, they have to be more practical and invest intentionally in their future. Attending RAD (on a scholarship) is a way for Drew to get ahead in life, but it also causes more cultural friction and internal conflict for him than Jordan. Until meeting Jordan and Drew, Liam has lived in a comfortable bubble, clueless to the struggles outside RAD or Riverdale, although not without his own.
Class Act is a study in privilege, not only white privilege. The group of friends is actually quite diverse, with Latinos, Asians, and Black kids making the crew. For a reason yet undisclosed, Andy prefers associating and sitting with the underdogs during lunch, dishing microaggressions at Drew, instead of hanging out with boys as tactless as him. However, as the S.O.C.K. meeting proves, even minorities can hold stereotypes, biases, and be rude towards other minorities (enter Ruby). Craft proves that the lines between insults and jokes all depend on how well you know a person. Socially—especially the younger generation—we are hyper-aware of political correctness but can maneuver our way through it good-naturedly, such as Jordan pointing out he did not get “reparations” (202) for being lighter skinned.
Skin color matters and sometimes it does not. Jordan’s cartoon inserts offer poignant, and visually engraving social commentary on what it means to be Black in America. He knows Drew gets different treatment for being darker skinned. Yet Maury, who is darker than Jordan, feels right at home at RAD and gets picked on by an older Black student. Most hilarious is the part where, despite being Black, Jordan and Drew have no idea what the thugs in “The Mean Streets of South Uptown” (198) are saying. Craft declares: If Black experience is this different within a city in the same school, imagine the differences nation and worldwide.
Especially commending in this novel is Craft’s exhortation to let Black kids be Black kids. Drew needs to join the basketball team because he is genuinely talented in the sport (as proven by his trophies). Jordan needs to continue drawing and use Batman as a muse, if he so chooses. Drew gets accused of being “proper” and “better than everybody” for attending RAD by Wendell (152-53). This scene proves that even Black people have cultural beliefs about what makes somebody Black. Craft says: do not believe it. Be authentic. He adds to the growing message of minority writers accepting that they partake, find inspiration, and are part of the mainstream canon. There is pride in minority culture and ethnicity but Craft proves that it is becoming harder to label people and literature as one particular thing.
Class Act will resonate with the youth it is addressing but adult readers will be engaged as well, especially those educating teenagers. Literature is intended to help readers find solace, affirmation, purpose. Craft throws humorous insight into sensitive social justice topics without bias, making this graphic novel a record of American cultural experience in the 21st century.
AWARDS
2022 Blue Hen Book Award
2022 Golden Archer Award
2021 Little Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List
2021 Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List
2021 Bluebonnet Reading List
2020 Cybils Awards, Graphic Novel Nominee
REVIEW EXCERPTS
From Booklist, starred review: “Never relying on platitudes, Craft makes the story honest and believable and presents it as a powerful, if difficult to achieve, real-world possibility. The miracle, once again, is that he not only captures anguish but also finds hilarity, aided considerably by his affable art, filled with visual puns and asides.”
From The Horn Book, starred review: “Hilarious and heartfelt. Craft adeptly balances poignant questions…with laugh-out-loud moments of adolescence, making Class Act a substantial snapshot of the interior life of boys, especially Black boys who are too often not afforded such attention, love, and care.”
From School Library Journal, starred review: “Lightning strikes twice as Craft again produces a funny and appealing yet sensitive and nuanced middle grade tale of inequity and microaggressions.”
From Kirkus: “A well-Crafted, visually rich, truth-telling tale for our troubled times that affirms the eternal importance of friends.”
CONNECTIONS
Read more direct books on anti-racism and social justice:
–Reynolds, Jason, and Ibram X. Kendi. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You. ISBN: 978-0316453691
–Oluo, Ijeoma. 2019. So You Want to Talk About Race. Oluo explains issues of race in language teens will understand. ISBN: 978-1580058827
Essay prompt or class discussion:
Is Drew selling himself short by assuming he will never have a lifestyle to match Liam’s in the future? Talk about why it is important to forge relationships with people outside our race and our socioeconomic class.
Biblioterika 