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mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
1.0
School Trip is the last installment of the New Kid series. If you look at my reviews across the board (New Kid and Class Act, respectively) you will see that I have never been particularly impressed by any of the books. I expected more of the same from School Trip, but was surprised to find it somehow took a turn for the worse.
The art style continues to be a thorn in my side. I don't like it - to me it's basic, static and unrefined. Let's move on.
The story continues to be middling. There are things to be said about being one of a handful of Black kids or kids of color at a predominantly white school and at this point in the series Craft has covered all of them. I find his perspective somewhat simplistic and heavy handed, however, I do acknowledge that some people do need to be practically bowled over by a point in order to get it. Especially children who are still learning about the world.
As he clearly reached his limits with the concept, School Trip takes the kids on a field trip to Paris in an attempt to drum up story beats from a change in locale. I found the idea intriguing but the execution lacking.
The bulk of the trip is taken up trying to hammer into Andy that he's a jerk and why none of them like him. As we've already seen this before many times in the previous two books I was bored to tears re-hashing the same old arguments just in even more detail. It also makes no sense that instead of simply ignoring Andy entirely everyone acts as if they have to engage with him. These aren't shy or timid kids so why do they continue to allow him to hang around at all?
The school trip isn't their choice, sure, but on the trip after a half hearted apology in which Andy offers no indication that he actually understands what the kids of color have been trying to tell him Liam, Jordan, and Drew decide to ‘reward’ him by inviting him to sleepover in one of rooms. This is after Ramon pours out his heart about how Andy's racism has impacted him for years and Drew lays into Andy about how Andy’s reason for disliking him is clearly racially motivated.
There is no reason these kids should continue to associate with Andy. There comes a point where ignorance becomes willful and malicious. Andy might not be ‘all bad’, but School Trip - really the whole series - places a lot of the pressure on the kids of color to negotiate with him rather than allowing them to make the entirely reasonable choice to be done entirely. It’s not like these are a bunch of kids afraid to stand up for themselves. They constantly are calling Andy out for his behavior.
But, because Craft milks Andy for a lot of his messaging and commentary he has to be redeemed on some level even if it’s at the expense of realism or the characters he’s written.
Craft introduces this concept of a person being a thumbs downer which I originally liked because it was describing how Andy’s inclination to be negative about everything is a large part of his problem. In context, if he sees a video of something like puppies he will thumbs down instead of concluding the video isn’t for him and moving on. Basically, he goes out of his way to be mean when he feels threatened rather than examining whether or not it’s valid he’s uncomfortable.
The problem is that by the end Craft uses it instead as a catchall for when you dislike behavior. It warps to be a weapon against someone else rather than an internal call-in to course correct. This transformation seemed to occur purely so Craft could not so subtly call out haters of his series. New Kid as a series has experienced a lot of unnecessary hate, however, because thumbs down is so generalized it ignores potentially justifiable criticism by lumping it into unwarranted, baseless accusations. It’s harmful to assume that every person who ever offers up critique or advice to you is doing so in bad faith. It’s especially harmful to promote the idea to kids when they are in a period of their life when even if they are well-meaning they can go about a situation incorrectly.
Doubling down is not only something prejudiced people do. People who are mostly open-minded and kind can be close-minded when it comes to making a mistake. Case in point, white people who think they are helping when they speak over the opinions of minorities. I dislike the idea that the concept of thumbs down is okay to use as long as it’s for the ‘right’ reasons because ‘right’ is in the eye of the beholder. It was a lot more powerful when thumbs downing was about the individual perspective.
The conflict over the course of the three books about whether or not Jordan can go to art school ends with an anger-inducing whimper. Despite his parents framing the decision as his, when he goes to tell them his choice his mother tells him that it was never actually his choice and he can’t go to art school which renders one of the conflicts of this book - does Jordan want to abandon his friends to be the new kid again even if it would be for art? - entirely moot.
Not to mention the fact that his mothers’ reasoning is that being a Black artist is essentially a pipe dream. I understand her point overall. It is difficult to be a Black person pursuing the arts. It’s a lot safer to fall back on the old school of thought that art is a hobby and something like business or engineering guarantees better job prospects.
That said, I disliked the way Craft went about it. He does not in any way combat her statement because he’s too busy making an tongue-in-cheek reference to his own success to make a legitimate conclusion to this story arc. Rather than address Jordan’s mothers’ hostile attitude towards Jordan’s love for art Craft leaves this plot point completely dangling without a final confrontation where both characters get to share their point of view. He concedes to Jordan’s mother with the assumption that a child reading this will make the connection that he is alluding to his own success, understand the irony of her argument and conclude that she’s wrong on that basis.
I think that is way too much to expect from the primary demographic when he has spent three books letting Jordan’s mother go unchallenged for her attitude about art. How is this sequence any different than her normal outlook? She’s always presented as strict yet totally rational for her opinion about the invalidity of Jordan’s passion.
In fact when Jordan gets his acceptance letter, she can’t even be happy for him in the sense that he accomplished something huge regardless of whether or not he’ll ultimately be able to attend the school. His father hugs him and tells him he’s proud while she looks on completely disapprovingly without saying a word.
School Trip ends the series on a low note. Nevertheless, kids seem to like it, it’s not hurting anyone technically, and there are good intentions in the narrative. That said, I do wish that this whole experience could have ended at New Kid because everything that has happened in the trilogy is best synthesized in that one book.
The art style continues to be a thorn in my side. I don't like it - to me it's basic, static and unrefined. Let's move on.
The story continues to be middling. There are things to be said about being one of a handful of Black kids or kids of color at a predominantly white school and at this point in the series Craft has covered all of them. I find his perspective somewhat simplistic and heavy handed, however, I do acknowledge that some people do need to be practically bowled over by a point in order to get it. Especially children who are still learning about the world.
As he clearly reached his limits with the concept, School Trip takes the kids on a field trip to Paris in an attempt to drum up story beats from a change in locale. I found the idea intriguing but the execution lacking.
The bulk of the trip is taken up trying to hammer into Andy that he's a jerk and why none of them like him. As we've already seen this before many times in the previous two books I was bored to tears re-hashing the same old arguments just in even more detail. It also makes no sense that instead of simply ignoring Andy entirely everyone acts as if they have to engage with him. These aren't shy or timid kids so why do they continue to allow him to hang around at all?
The school trip isn't their choice, sure, but on the trip after a half hearted apology in which Andy offers no indication that he actually understands what the kids of color have been trying to tell him Liam, Jordan, and Drew decide to ‘reward’ him by inviting him to sleepover in one of rooms. This is after Ramon pours out his heart about how Andy's racism has impacted him for years and Drew lays into Andy about how Andy’s reason for disliking him is clearly racially motivated.
There is no reason these kids should continue to associate with Andy. There comes a point where ignorance becomes willful and malicious. Andy might not be ‘all bad’, but School Trip - really the whole series - places a lot of the pressure on the kids of color to negotiate with him rather than allowing them to make the entirely reasonable choice to be done entirely. It’s not like these are a bunch of kids afraid to stand up for themselves. They constantly are calling Andy out for his behavior.
But, because Craft milks Andy for a lot of his messaging and commentary he has to be redeemed on some level even if it’s at the expense of realism or the characters he’s written.
Craft introduces this concept of a person being a thumbs downer which I originally liked because it was describing how Andy’s inclination to be negative about everything is a large part of his problem. In context, if he sees a video of something like puppies he will thumbs down instead of concluding the video isn’t for him and moving on. Basically, he goes out of his way to be mean when he feels threatened rather than examining whether or not it’s valid he’s uncomfortable.
The problem is that by the end Craft uses it instead as a catchall for when you dislike behavior. It warps to be a weapon against someone else rather than an internal call-in to course correct. This transformation seemed to occur purely so Craft could not so subtly call out haters of his series. New Kid as a series has experienced a lot of unnecessary hate, however, because thumbs down is so generalized it ignores potentially justifiable criticism by lumping it into unwarranted, baseless accusations. It’s harmful to assume that every person who ever offers up critique or advice to you is doing so in bad faith. It’s especially harmful to promote the idea to kids when they are in a period of their life when even if they are well-meaning they can go about a situation incorrectly.
Doubling down is not only something prejudiced people do. People who are mostly open-minded and kind can be close-minded when it comes to making a mistake. Case in point, white people who think they are helping when they speak over the opinions of minorities. I dislike the idea that the concept of thumbs down is okay to use as long as it’s for the ‘right’ reasons because ‘right’ is in the eye of the beholder. It was a lot more powerful when thumbs downing was about the individual perspective.
The conflict over the course of the three books about whether or not Jordan can go to art school ends with an anger-inducing whimper. Despite his parents framing the decision as his, when he goes to tell them his choice his mother tells him that it was never actually his choice and he can’t go to art school which renders one of the conflicts of this book - does Jordan want to abandon his friends to be the new kid again even if it would be for art? - entirely moot.
Not to mention the fact that his mothers’ reasoning is that being a Black artist is essentially a pipe dream. I understand her point overall. It is difficult to be a Black person pursuing the arts. It’s a lot safer to fall back on the old school of thought that art is a hobby and something like business or engineering guarantees better job prospects.
That said, I disliked the way Craft went about it. He does not in any way combat her statement because he’s too busy making an tongue-in-cheek reference to his own success to make a legitimate conclusion to this story arc. Rather than address Jordan’s mothers’ hostile attitude towards Jordan’s love for art Craft leaves this plot point completely dangling without a final confrontation where both characters get to share their point of view. He concedes to Jordan’s mother with the assumption that a child reading this will make the connection that he is alluding to his own success, understand the irony of her argument and conclude that she’s wrong on that basis.
I think that is way too much to expect from the primary demographic when he has spent three books letting Jordan’s mother go unchallenged for her attitude about art. How is this sequence any different than her normal outlook? She’s always presented as strict yet totally rational for her opinion about the invalidity of Jordan’s passion.
In fact when Jordan gets his acceptance letter, she can’t even be happy for him in the sense that he accomplished something huge regardless of whether or not he’ll ultimately be able to attend the school. His father hugs him and tells him he’s proud while she looks on completely disapprovingly without saying a word.
School Trip ends the series on a low note. Nevertheless, kids seem to like it, it’s not hurting anyone technically, and there are good intentions in the narrative. That said, I do wish that this whole experience could have ended at New Kid because everything that has happened in the trilogy is best synthesized in that one book.
ria_ray's review against another edition
3.0
It was okay (keep in mind i didn’t read the other two books i started with this one)
maireador20's review
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
kikijuly1's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
aagbunn's review against another edition
5.0
This series started my love for graphic novels. This book particularly is one of my all time favorites. I love the characters. This book is for children and adults. It has some amazing themes, and tackles difficult topics.
duncnjacksmom's review
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ck61's review against another edition
I started to read too many books at a time so I decided to cut out graphic novels.
shelbyaye's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
common_household_mom's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
gold_star_reader's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0