J vs. K

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J vs. K

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$9.99

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Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on May 6, 2025

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The respective creators of New Kid and The Crossover unite in this ridiculous and hilarious adventure featuring two creative fifth graders who will stop at nothing to one-up each other.

Created by real-life rivals and #1 New York Times bestselling authors Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft this hilarious illustrated story features two talented fifth graders going head-to-head in a competition for the ages.

J and K are the most creative fifth graders at Dean Ashley Public School (DAPS). J loves to draw and his wordless stories are J-ENIUS! K loves to write and his stories are K-LASSIC!! Both J and K are determined to win the DAPS annual creative storytelling contest or at least get in the top five. And when they find out that they are both entering The Contest, it's the beginning of one of the most intense rivalries the world has ever seen.

It’s artist vs. writer with plenty of shady double crosses as J and K plot their way to the top. This epic match-up from Newbery medal winners Kwame Alexander (The Crossover) and Jerry Craft (New Kid) celebrates comics, creativity, and the magic of collaboration.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316582698
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	51 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, publisher, and New York Times bestselling author of more than 35 books, including the Caldecott Medal and Newbery Honor-winning picture book The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, the Newbery medal-winning novel, The Crossover, Becoming Muhammad Ali, co-authored with James Patterson, Booked, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, Rebound, Solo and Swing. A regular contributor to NPR's Morning Edition, Kwame is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Coretta Scott King Author Honor, three NAACP Image Award Nominations, and the 2017 Inaugural Pat Conroy Legacy Award. He invites you to visit him at kwamealexander.com on IG and Twitter @kwamealexander.

Jerry Craft is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the graphic novels New Kid, Class Act and School Trip. New Kid is the only novel to ever win the John Newbery Medal, the Kirkus Prize, and the Coretta Scott King Author Award. Jerry is also a co-founder of the Schomburg’s Annual Black Comic Book Festival. He was born in Harlem and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City. He lives with his family in Connecticut. You can learn more about Jerry at www.jerrycraft.com.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

★ 03/03/2025
Alexander (How Sweet the Sound) and Craft (School Trip) emphasize the importance of nurturing creative expression and healthy competition in this meta illustrated collaboration. J Ennis— a talented cartoonist who loves creating comics for his peers (and the praise that comes with it)—is eager to become the first fifth grader to win Dean Ashley Public School’s annual creative storytelling competition. When J discovers that new kid K Wright has a gift for language, he’s initially unbothered, especially since K couldn’t “draw a straight line if he had a ruler.” Then K’s rhythmic prose starts winning over J’s loyal fans, which ignites between the two a motivating and warmhearted rivalry. After all, there can only be one gifted fifth grader at DAPS—right? Renderings of J’s action-packed stories as well as b&w spot illustrations depicting the characters’ antics evoke physical humor and classic superhero comics flair. Author’s notes are sprinkled throughout the text; while some contextualize narrative decisions and define words, others showcase Craft and Alexander’s gentle ribbing and easy camaraderie, directly paralleling J and K’s evolving friendship. Ages 8–12. Agents: (for Alexander) Arielle Eckstut, Levine Greenburg Rostan Literary; (for Craft) Judy Hansen, Hansen Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

* “Two Newbery winners concoct a tale … offering plenty of authorial interjections and good advice about crafting and revising stories and pictures. Readers will have as much fun with this as the coauthors plainly did—and that’s no codswallop.”—Booklist, starred review

* “Alexander (How Sweet the Sound) and Craft (School Trip) emphasize the importance of nurturing creative expression and healthy competition in this meta illustrated collaboration.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

* “An absolute must-purchase powerhouse of a hybrid illustrated novel packed with humor, storycrafting lessons, and a great rivals-to-teammates tale.”—SLJ, starred review

"J vs. K will certainly inspire kids to write and draw, but to me… [it’s] a reminder to keep seeking and stoking each other’s light, knowing that no matter how dark things get we will burn more brightly together."
—New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

★ 04/04/2025
Gr 2–5—Two fifth graders are ready to go head-to-head in the annual storytelling competition. One is renowned for his drawing skills and one for his writing. When their rivalry reaches a breaking point, they realize that they can work better together. This is a hybrid graphic novel/chapter book by Newbery Award-winning authors Alexander and Craft, and their talent shines through on every page. Both the authors are as much characters as the kids they've created to represent fictionalized younger versions of themselves. Interspersed throughout are writing tips, drawing advice, and story-crafting lessons. These asides turn a book about creating stories into a master class; but the asides and intertextual commentary are so humorous that young readers may not realize just how much they are learning. The black-and-white drawings are wonderfully done; simple but full of humor and character. Each element of design, including the different fonts for the author commentary, adds to the impact of this unique novel, making it very appealing for both fans of graphic novels and prose. Elementary children will come for the humor and great illustrations, but their teachers and families will appreciate the positive messaging and embedded storytelling tips. VERDICT An absolute must-purchase powerhouse of a hybrid illustrated novel packed with humor, storycrafting lessons, and a great rivals-to-teammates tale.—Elizabeth Nicolai

School Library Journal

2025-02-01
Two boys equally blessed with both talent and ego vie for supremacy in their school’s annual “creative storytelling competition.”
J is “by far the best artist in the entire fifth grade”; K has “become known as the best writer in the entire fifth grade.” Naturally, each one is determined to crush it in The Contest, and each decides an illustrated story is the way to go. The competitive boys try to undermine one another by passing along fake tips for success, each hoping to destroy his opponent’s story. K advises J to “write what you DON’T know” and to use sixth-person narration. “J’s Secrets to Drawing Really Good” are just as catastrophic and include drawing with your nondominant hand and inserting mistakes to keep readers engaged. Creative hijinks ensue. Craft and Alexander have become known on social media for the jocular trash talk they heap on each other; J and K are their fictional child avatars. As an internet bit doled out in small doses, their frenemy-ship is amusing; as a sustained story about storytelling, it’s thin on both character and plot development. Authorial interjections exhort readers to look up 75-cent vocabulary, often used in barbs directed at each other; the latter feel like in-jokes more than playful attempts to engage young readers. Kids may enjoy spotting references to popular children’s authors among the characters’ names, and budding authors and illustrators will benefit from the advice. J and K are both Black; their classmates and teachers are racially diverse.
An insubstantial story that offers a prosocial message.(Fiction. 8-12)

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