J vs. K

by Kwame Alexander, Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

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.

A New York Times and IndieBound bestseller!

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

ISBN-13:	9780316582681
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kwame Alexander is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over forty books, including his Newbery Medal-winning novel The Crossover; The Undefeated, winner of the Caldecott Medal and Newbery Honor; The Door of No Return; and Becoming Muhammed Ali, which he co-wrote with James Patterson. An Emmy Award-winning Producer and the Michael I. Rudell Artistic Director of Literary Arts at Chautauqua, he invites you to visit him at kwamealexander.com and on Instagram and X @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. 

Editorial Reviews

* “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

“Craft and Alexander have a lively friendly rivalry on display in social media posts and joint school visits, and this highly illustrated novel… is the perfect playground for their fictional counterparts—and for themselves.”—The Horn Book

From the Publisher

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)

Kirkus Reviews