[ Music ] >> Hello, everyone. And welcome to the
National Book Festival. My name is Sasha Dowdy from
the Library of Congress, and I'm here today with Jerry
Craft, whose featured book at the Festival is New Kid, as
well as the upcoming, Class Act. If you'd like to see Jerry's
presentation at the Festival, log in to National
Book Festival dot com, and you will find
this presentation on the Children's Stage. So, welcome, Jerry. It's great to have
you here today. >> It is great to
be here, thank you. >> This is so wonderful
to have you here, to talk about your
fascinating books. While we wait for
the questions to come in from the public this year
with us, I just wanted you to talk about what it has
been like to, you know, just be groundbreaking
author of a book that not only won the
Caldecott Award, but, I'm sorry, the Carter Scott King Award, but also the first-ever
Newbery, for a graphic novel. >> Yeah, that has been
absolutely amazing, you know, I wasn't a reader as a kid. Like, I mean, I only
read comics, basically. Everything else seemed
like a chore. And my teachers used to
take those comics from me, because they weren't
real reading. So for that kid to grow
up and when, you know, one of the biggest awards
in children's literature, and proved that comics are real
reading, it's kind of, like, you know, bringing a-- you
know, it's just pretty amazing, and sometimes I still
can't get over it. But I'm enjoying it, a lot. >> That's wonderful. We already have some
questions rolling in. I'm sure everyone is excited. From Katie, we have-- do you have any other
graphic novel suggestions that you think need to
be on school shelves, alongside New Kid,
and Class Act? >> Wow, so I'm a big
graphic novel person. I mean, Raina Telgemeier, I
mean, I always start with her. I think that Guts is actually
my favorite of her books, and that's her newest one. Jarrett J. Krosoczka's
Hey Kiddo, American Born Chinese was
ground-breaking for me, because it showed me-- it
gave me more courage to know that I could talk about race
and class in a graphic novel. So that really inspired me. Boy...Rollergirl, El Deafo,
All American Girl, by Robin Ha. I could literally spend every
day reading another one. Real Friends, Shannon Hale. And it's just so
amazing that comics and graphic novels are finally
considered real reading. So I really appreciate
all the people that kind of paved the way for
me, and you know, kind of got people knowing that,
you know, maybe we can think of this in terms of a Caldecott,
or a Carter Scott King, in terms of, you
know, just as good as a prose before real
reading, as a prose book. So, or as an annulet. Can't forget Kazul
[assumed spelling]. >> Great. Thank you for
those great recommendations to share a shelf with. So a lot of folks want to
know, like, J.G. Williams, what serves as your
inspiration for writing? >> So, with me, because I wasn't
a reader, and I try to figure out why, exactly that is,
and I think that a lot of it specifically as, you
know, an African American boy, born in Harlem, grew up
in Washington Heights, I didn't really see
characters that spoke to me. There were a lot of books, and
you know, I always say this, but there are a lot of books
I saw that are about slavery, or civil rights, or gangs,
and police brutality, and although those are important
books, I think that any book that a kid wants to read is
an important book, you know, any book that when you wake
them up, you see that the bed, you know, is by the
pillow, you know, that they had gone
to sleep reading it. You know, on the floor,
you know, by the bed, and they're reading it
at the breakfast table, and the school bus,
and you know, it wasn't until I had
two sons of my own where I realized
the power of books. I remember my kids going, "Dad! We have to go to the
store on August 5," and I'm like, okay,
like GameStop? You talking like a
new Pac-Man, or Sonic? And they're like, "No, the
new Wimpy Kid is coming out!" And I was like, wait a minute? You know when a book
is coming out? Like whose kids are you? And that was when I
really started to see it. And at the National Book
Festival, I went in 2014, when I had illustrated the book
called the Zero Degree Zombie Zone, for Scholastic, I saw
Raina Telgemeier, and Jean Yang, and Jeff Smith, and these people
with these long lines of kids, just standing there,
just, they couldn't wait, they couldn't be more excited. And I've never seen the
power of books like that. So I always said that one of
my goals was to come back here, and be a participant of a book
that I wrote and illustrated, and to be able to talk
to people, and you know, that was really one of the
most life-changing events that I had ever been to. So thank you for having me back. >> Oh, it's amazing. It's a pleasure to
have you back. So you are such a huge
advocate for graphic novels as a legitimate medium for
reading, and David would like to know, what do
you say to those critics that say graphic novels
are not real reading? >> Well, you know, again, if
you give a kid a book, you know, say a classic book, and
they don't want to read it, and it's a chore, and you
know, books, like, you know, some of the classics
were hard reading for me. And you get that same
book and graphic novel, and they read it
three times, you know, like I've had teachers come
to me and say that a kid who has never finished a book
the entire year has read New Kid twice or three times, and
said, "Miss so-and-so, you have to read this
tonight so we could talk about in the morning." Like, that's irreplaceable,
you know? So people who kind of look down on it are really missing a
vital part to-- because the end, the end game is to get
kids reading, you know? And if they decide to
branch off, which you know, I did from Marvel Comics,
but you know, my vocabulary from Marvel Comics is, you
know, uncanny, astonishing, Armageddon, macabre, I mean-- these were all Marvel
Comics words. And it helped me out. So by the time I did venture off
into reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, it
wasn't a chore anymore, but I had really
been primed for that. So that's what I would tell
them [overlapping speakers]. So there. >> You are a true expert, now. They can't argue
against you now. >> that's right. >> So you've touched
on this a couple times, that you had some trouble
reading real books, or quote, end-quote, real books or
classics, when you were a kid. Nicole wants to know, which superheroes did you
doodle on your homework? >> Oh, Spiderman, Silver
Surfer were the big ones. Iron Man, and then I
would make up my own. So some of my earliest-- when
I do school presentations, I show a comic book that
I did in the sixth grade, that had some Marvel guys in it. It was an Iron Man,
Beastrom, X-Men, Ghost Rider, but I also had my own character,
and I wrote that story, and I was able to, you know,
make up a story about, you know, an archaeologist, who
uncovered this magic sword, so I had to know what
an archaeologist was. I had to look up in
the dictionary how to spell archaeologists. I had to know about artifacts. So I did a lot of research. And I do remember in, I
think it was 9th grade, in my biology class, my
biology teacher, Barbara Silver, I convinced her to let me do
a comic book as my term paper in biology, and that was also a
life-changing event, you know, I'm reminded every time
I see her at the reunion that that was something
that really-- because it was about plants. And I did it as kind
of like superheroes. And to this day, I remember
the xylem and phloem system, and photosynthesis, and all
that kind of stuff, but that was because of research that I
put into making the comic, whereas if it's just
a term paper, I-- I mean, I don't remember any
other term paper I ever did. I'm sure I did, though. But yeah, it was very
important for that to happen. >> She sounds brilliant. She really trusted
you, and it paid off. But it's amazing. So Ellen would like to know,
are there any novels you love that you would want to
adapt into a graphic novel? If you have a lot,
maybe just a couple? >> Oh, wow. >> Convention-- >> So you know what? Again, I-- I kind of caught up
on novels, afterwards, you know? Because I went from basically
going through high school, not really loving
books, college, you know, I went to school of visual
arts, not really loving books. As an adult, I started
reading manuals, on like how to use
Adobe Photoshop. So I could read, I just
didn't really enjoy it. So when I started, when I have
kids, that was the first time that I really became conscious of these two little
[inaudible], you know? I remember reading,
But Not Buddy to my sons, and they loved it. I remember reading Holes. And those are the
ones that I was like, I didn't know what those
little shiny things were, but I knew that they
were good books. So we started looking
for more of those. So you know, Great Expectations
was the one that I read in high school, the
first big-boy book that I finished and loved. But for my second life, for
my newfound life as a reader, it would have to be Holes,
and But Not Buddy, I think. So, interesting. >> I think we would all
read your adaptations of those titles. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, here's a question
from Amelia, about the impact of your book. The independent school where I
teach will be discussing New Kid as a faculty book club book. What school policies should
we, as faculty, address, in terms of equity for
POC students and families? >> Okay, so the big
thing is, oh man, I could do a whole
session just on this. So you can call me
directly [laughs], no, but the big thing is,
depending on the kid. First of all, not all
POCs, or you know, kids of color, are the same. You know? I came from more of a middle class family
with a mom and a dad. I lived in the Brownstone, so
that house where Jordan Banks in New Kid lives, is where
I grew up, in a Brownstone. I had friends I went to school
with living with just their moms in a project in the South Bronx. You know, I had other friends
whose dads were, you know, like really loaded, you know, so
you can't group them all, okay? But there are kids that I
remember going to a school and the kid really loved
my book, and he liked me, and the teacher said
hey, you know, I will buy you this book
and you can have it. And he was like,
"thanks, but no." Like, man, I can't be seen in my
neighborhood carrying no book. You know? So that kid can't just
be written off as being defiant or stupid, or illiterate, or
something like that, you know, there's a lot of pressure
sometimes not to succeed. So I think you, as
teachers and faculty, may have to say hey,
you know what? Let's have a comfortable
place where this kid can stay after school and
do his homework, so that he doesn't have to,
you know, carry a book bag back to school, I mean, back home
where he might be ostracized. You know? Not assuming that
you always know what's best. Sometimes talk to the kid. What do you need? How is it? Because one of the
things that most people in society don't realize,
like, I go places, and I am often the only
African American male in the room, you know? And that doesn't happen, you
know, the opposite, you know, when you talk about being
a, you know, white person, being in the room with
4,000 African Americans. That would be very
uncomfortable. So there really is a lot of
code-switching and going back and forth that, sometimes before
a kid even gets to school, they are exhausted with
the code switching and all that stuff that has to go. So the more you talk and
get actual conversations, the better, you know,
the better for everyone. >> Great, thank you
so much for that. That's some usable advice. Love it. >> Good. >> So Leah has a question
related to your answer. What do you feel
is the importance of proper representation of
black people for children? >> So, hi Leah, and
that's a great question. So one of the biggest things
is that, again, you know, when I grew up, you know, I grew
up watching The Brady Bunch. I grew up watching
The Partridge Family. You know, all these
kinds of things, right? And identified with
white characters. When I say we know you, I
mean, you know, being around, and being the fly on the
wall, and seeing the movies, and watching Friends,
and watching Seinfeld. But generally speaking, it's not
the other way around, you know, my kids, you know, people
wouldn't think twice of giving them Wimpy
Kid, or Amulet, or Bone, or something like that. But generally speaking,
white kids don't get books with black characters, and
if they do, if the only ones that they get are like the
Black History Month books, like the books that they have
to do to write a term paper on a Frederick Douglas,
or Harriet Tubman, they're not seeing
contemporary stories. So they don't see kids like how
I was as a kid, using humor. You know? They think that
everything is gang related, and you know, just a mom,
and black dads do not exist. But when you look at comedians,
it's always Dave Chappell, Chris Rock, Eddie
Murphy, or Richard Pryor-- so those funny black men had to be funny black
boys, at some point. And you don't see a
lot of humor associated with African American
kids in books. So that's why I think that as
happy as I am that people think that New Kid is groundbreaking,
I'm also sad because it really shouldn't be in the year 2020 having a black
boy with his mom, his dad, his grandfather, going
into private school, really shouldn't be
groundbreaking, but it is. So it's kind of a
bittersweet thing. But I accept it, and thank you. >> Thank you so much. So we are focused on
kind of rewinding back to your journey as an author. [Inaudible] wants to know,
how did you get your start? Was there someone
who encouraged you? Perhaps aside from
your biology teacher? >> You know, I did a comic
strip called Mama's Boys. And then I couldn't
get it published. And I self-published. And so in 1997, I
self-published my first book, which is a Mama's Boys book. And then ten years
later, I did another one. And then people starting coming
to me, African American authors, saying "I can't get
published either, can you help me to
publish my book?" And I said, "Okay!" So I literally started a
company, Mama's Boys, Inc., where I helped to publish
other people's books. So over about a 20-year span,
I did maybe three dozen books, you know, Baby Boy,
What Will You Be? And a lot of picture
books, and you know, What's Below Your Tummy-Tum? All from authors who couldn't
be published, you know? And it wasn't until 2014 that
I got to illustrate this guy, [inaudible] Pinkney,
from Scholastic. Asked me if I wanted
to do the Zero to Be Zombie Zone
for Scholastic. So that was the first
traditional book after, you know, 3,000 books,
and I really had given up. I really didn't think that I would ever be
traditionally published. And it wasn't until 2017
that Angelo Harwell, Ellie [inaudible], and Rosemary
Brosnen [assumed spelling] from Harper Collins decided
that this might be a story that could be successful, and
I am ecstatic to reward them for their faith and
encouragement. So, thank you, Rosemary. Thank you, Andrew. And my agency, [inaudible],
thank you. >> Great, thank you. We have several people
asking us similar questions about the future. Kirsten, Katie, and Chris. I'll read Katie's question. Do you have any other graphic
novels planned or in the works that address race
and class in addition to New Kid, and Class Act. >> Well yeah, so definitely, whereas I think New Kid
may touch more on race, Class Act definitely has
a big class component, and this would be out October 6. And then I will start
work on the third book. So there will be a third one. I'm not giving any secrets yet,
because it's still formulating, but give me a couple
of years for that, and then that will end
the New Kid Trilogy. And then I will decide where
everything goes from there. But that is definitely
my priorities. >> Great, thank you. Here's a question from Karen. I'm a third and fourth
grade teacher. One of my students,
Michael, picked up your book and read it in two days. He loved it, and can't wait
for Class Act to come out. He's camping this weekend, but do you have any
advice for young writers? >> So, with either a young
writer, and young artists, is so many kids are
so hard on themselves, so like when I did school
visits back in the day where you could actually
go into a school, I would give them pencils with
no erasers, because I found that a lot of young
artists would do one line, and then immediately
start erasing, and if you had those old
pencils, the big, hard, ugly plastic erasers, and
they would rip the paper, and there would be tears coming,
it's like "relax, take a breath, it's not the end of
the world, try it out." So you know, fill
your sketch book. There's sketch books, they do
a couple of pages, and do a-- let's get another one. You know, they don't
finish anything. So just encouragement, you know, they can write about
their lives. It's kind of interesting with
the 40 books that I've done, that the one that is the most
successful is the one based on my life, and also like my
son's lives, so it's more, it's the most realistic
book that I've done, you know, as far as personal. So not everything has to be an
anime story, a Monica story, you know, you can write about
what it's like to be, you know, just an average kid,
doing average stuff, but just find the difference, the nuance that makes
them different. So just the encouragement,
and keep them away from kids that go oh, drawing
is stupid, you know, that's-- that's a big thing. And that's probably
a really good start. >> That's wonderful. I love that advice, to not
give them pencils with erasers. >> Yes. >> Here's a question
from Leslie that a lot of folks would want
you to answer. What's your process
for writing your books? >> So I start out
with a story arc, and I kind of follow through. So like with New Kid, I
knew that I wanted to start in September, first
day of school, and go all the way
to the end of school. And then from there, I broke it
up into months, and figured out, you know, sports, what would
happen September, October, November, December,
all the way through, and then different things. I watched my sons go
through school to see like, okay here are term papers due,
here are reports that are due, here's this-- and
then I just go back, so before I'm even writing
stuff down, like I do write down notes, but even with the
new book, it's just simmering in the back, you know? It's, everything is
processing, so when I think about going oh, you know what? I need to have Coach
Roach in there, because kids really like him. You know? I need to have
Alexandra, with the puppet. So I'll have her with
a scene with Jordan, and then once I write it down,
I must go over it 100 times. And I think of stuff, like I was
at maybe, I think it was TLA, and I heard teachers
talking about oh my goodness, boys get to be in 8th grade, the boy odor will knock you
off your teacher's chair. And I went: Body odor! I forgot all about that. So in Class Act, there's
a big thing about boys and body odor and-- but
it's-- it's different. You'll see. So as I think about that, then
I go back and I put it in, and I fill it in, so it's
not really the writing, it's the re-writing, and the
re-drawing, and the re-writing and the drawing, so that's
why it takes so long. And then it takes about a year
to draw it seriously, once I, you know, put all the
nuts and bolts in. So it's a long process. So I am taking a little
bit of a break, but I am-- it's starting to formulate. >> Wow. We have a follow-up
question from Daniela. How long did you get-- how
did you get your inspiration? You kind of answered that. And also how long did it take,
writing the book, and editing? >> So, I pitched the concept
in 2014, and I started to do not every day, but you
know, chapters here and there, and it started getting some
feedback from different people, and then I'd say I really
started writing it in 2016, and then when I sold it
to Harper Collins in 2017, I worked on it literally
every day from 9:00 a.m. until sometimes 2:00 or 3:00
a.m., from January 2017, until February 2018, so it took
13 months of working like 16-, 17-hour days, and then the
book launched a year later, which was February 2019,
and then a year after that in January, I got the
awards, and when Harper saw that this is a book that people
wanted to see, I, you know, the one good thing about quarantine is I had
absolutely nowhere to go, all my trips got canceled,
and so I did the same thing, I worked from 9:00 in the
morning until sometimes 4, 5, 6 in the morning, and I finished
that, and they rushed it off to the press, the
printer, and it is ready. They have an actual hard
copy which, you know, the ink is still wet,
it's so new, so it's-- I'm excited for everyone
to see it. >> Wow, that's great. Thank you so much, it's a
huge labor of love, isn't it? You can feel it. >> Absolutely. >> Here's a question
from Celeste. For years I've had
a boy's book club, for third grade African
American boys, and it included graphic novels. Why aren't there more graphic
novels for that grade level with African American
characters? >> So, okay, so this is a
big thing that I just feel like people think that
African American boys have to have characters that suffer. And you know, just like, I would
love to see New Kid, you know, Jordan Banks drew on lunchboxes,
and you know, I have a shirt, but I made my own
shirt, you can see that. But you know, there is just
something about boys of color, where they just don't show them
eating cookies and making pizza with their dads, and
going to parks and stuff. And I'm hoping more
than anything that having both the
commercial success, and the critical acclaim that
I got, and this is, you know, well I'll actually show this. So this is the actual
Newbery Medal. So that this actually
means something so that the Gatekeepers
that, in the past, may have said oh, you know what? That's not realistic for, you
know, his dad to be a doctor. Let's have him, you know,
separate it from the mom and he's down on his luck,
you know, that kind of thing. So I'm hoping that one,
there are more black editors that come in, who actually
understand this, and say, you know what, this
is-- we can do this. And once that happens, you know,
just open it up a little bit, and then books are
books that, you know, they're not the black books,
not in the black section, or they only blow the dust
off in February, you know, because one of the things
I always say is, you know, that a lot of times
the stereotype that black kids don't
read, but if the only books that white kids got
were on Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton,
and not the one who raps, but Alexander Hamilton
[laughter], and Teddy Roosevelt,
like you know? Are they really going
to go to bed-- no offense to Teddy Roosevelt-- but are they going to go to
bed reading that, waking up, and "I want a Teddy
Roosevelt hat, or T-shirt"? Or I want to dress up as,
you know, FDR for Halloween? You know? That doesn't happen, and I just really implore
everyone to give us more of a chance to do regular
stories [sigh], okay. >> Thank you. Thank you for that answer. A lot of work to be done. >> There's a lot
of work to be done. >> David wants to
know, how can teachers and librarians help open up the
world of Children's publishing to more authors and illustrators
who are people of color. >> You know, so again, you know,
when you look at books like, you know, Octopus Stew, by
Eric Velasquez, that is a boy with his family, you know,
that is using its imagination, wonderful book, you know? King of Kindergarten, you
know, just a lot of the books, you know, Renee Watson and
Elizabeth Acevedo, [inaudible]-- where kids are just kids. You know? That have families,
that do stuff, and it's just-- it is such a different
kind of story that again, when you give it to
a white child, also, they don't think that,
you know, every black kid that they meet is suffering. There are black kids that live
in gated communities, you know? So it just puts a different
mindset on them, you know, and you know, even at schools,
when sometimes the only time that they'll see
black people are when the school will take them
for community service day, you know, and take them
to a homeless shelter, or stuff like that, and so
they'll feel like any time that they see someone
like me, they have to go and stick a sandwich
in this hand, you know? And it's like, listen,
have us in the-- you know, have Jason
Reynolds, and [inaudible], and Elizabeth Acevedo,
Renee Watson, you know, that and go to places where,
you know, you see us in action. Where it's not just always
the community service that we need help, you know? So, but you're going to wear me out with all these
questions [laughing]. >> We're going to send you-- >> I don't mind the number,
but I'm like all like, hype and stuff, but okay. >> No, that's great. We love to see your passion. But here's a fun one
for you from Karen. It's actually a question from
one of her students, Samir. If you were not an author,
what job would you have? >> So, author and I
guess illustrator, I can't be either of those? You know, when I went to
the school of visual arts, I studied advertising, so my first job was
writing radio commercials, and drawing storyboards,
and things like that. So I thought that was
going to be my life, and then the ad business
when I got out of school just
really, it was decimated. And I was like well, then we've
got that cartooning thing, and I got a job with a
woman named Barbara Slate, who kind of taught me the ropes. And she had written art scene-- we worked on New Kids on
the Block, and Sweet 16, I was like her background
artist. Then I worked for King Features, working in the comic art
department, and then I worked at Sports Illustrated for kids,
where I interviewed athletes. I did like flash animation. So I always had cool jobs,
where I got to draw and write and interview people
and interact. So any of those. You know, but they-- I've
had a really fun career being creative. But this is by far the best. >> And we are so glad
that you are here with us, and that you wrote
these fabulous books, and you clearly have
very passionate readers. Thank you for your hard work. Unfortunately, we have come
to the end of the Q&A session, the time really flew by today. Thank you so much, Jerry,
for sharing your time with us so generously. This has been wonderful. Everyone, this has
been Jerry Craft, his latest book is New Kid, with
an upcoming title of Class Act. You can find his presentation
on the Children's Stage of the National Book
Festival, and you can go to loc.gov/bookfest, to access. And thank you so much
to our audience out here for your thoughtful questions. I hope all of you take the time
to explore our many programs and enjoy the remainder of
the National Book Festival. [ Music ]
