Rivals: A Guest Post by Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft

By Jerry Craft, Kwame Alexander / May 15, 2025 at 1:22 am

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. Read on for an exclusive essay from Jerry Craft and Kwame Alexander on writing J vs. K.

Hardcover $16.99

J vs. K

By Kwame Alexander , Jerry Craft
Illustrator Jerry Craft

In Stock Online

Hardcover $16.99

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.

Jerry Craft: A few years ago I came up with the idea for a collaboration for a funny chapter-book / graphic novelish /comic style book. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a book about two characters who are rivals that was co-written by two authors who are actually rivals? But what other author would be the best fit? I wanted to choose someone who is talented, funny, hardworking, and well respected in the literary world. Unfortunately both Jaqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds were busy. Then I thought, “Hey! How about Kwame Alexander?” If anyone is my real-life rival, it’s him! Kwame won the Newbery in 2015 for his amazing book, “The Crossover.” I won in 2020 for my graphic novel “New Kid.” He’s a #1 NY Times bestselling author, and so am I. Our books are always up for the same awards (usually I win), we visit the same schools, and we constantly make fun of each other on social media. Kwame Alexander would be the perfect choice!

But when I asked him, he said, “No.” And not just once, he said no for years! But I didn’t give up, because I knew that if we were able to combine my strengths (humor, dialog, and art—Kwame just writes) with whatever his strengths are, the result would produce an amazing book. I also wanted to show kids that you can be rivals and still like, and root for, each other. Rivals make you better!

Kwame Alexander: That’s true, it did take me years to agree to do the book. It’s not that I didn’t want to work with Jerry… okay, that’s not true, I really DIDN’T want to work with him. I mean he does okay graphic novels, but my daughter did better when she was ten. Plus he copies everything I do (except for winning an Emmy!) But he wouldn’t stop hounding me. Then one day he called me up and read me the first chapter. My first response was, “How did you get my number?” But my second response was, “Wow! This is really good!” Then he had the nerve to challenge me to write the second chapter. So not to be outdone, I took the bait. A few days later I called and read chapter two to him. IT WAS ON!

To my surprise, we worked really well together, going back and forth, and even editing each other’s chapters. Plus we really pushed each other, because neither of us wanted to be outdone. We didn’t have a lot of conversation about what the plan was. Jerry set up a Google Doc so we could work on our chapters at our own pace, have fun, and see where it took us. J-VS-K is a very unique blend of prose, poetry, comics, and verse. We even break the fourth wall and actually teach our readers the importance of writing and rewriting. There are parts of the book that Jerry and I decided to change, but we let the readers see both the before and after. The finished product is definitely something that we may not have been able to achieve on our own. Jerry and I don’t agree on much, but we DO agree that you will love this book!