The New Kid

Filled with well-timed laughs and surprising triumphs, "The New Kid" is a story of friendship told through the perspective of five quirky students at North Graham Middle School. These sixth-graders work through unique insecurities to look beyond first impressions, and ultimately, challenge readers to choose empathy in their own lives.“Some are saying that the new kid pushed her onto the ground. People disagree on the severity of the push. Brittany said that Hadiyah was crying, and he was yelling like a maniac. Nobody seems to know what the motive was. “The kid’s a freak”, I heard Garrett say. Only one thing is for sure, nothing like this has ever happened at North Graham Middle; at least not since I have gone here…”It’s his first day at his new school and Dante West already finds himself in a world of trouble. The one thing he has on his side is that, at this school, nobody knows a thing about him. The other sixth-graders can only guess as to why he would target Hadiyah Ali-- a shy Muslim girl. Pretty much everybody has Dante pegged as the new school bully. But one curious kid, Franklin Decosto, thinks there might be more to the story."A relevant story both adults and children can relate to""A powerful and fresh debut"