J vs. K

March 1, 2025
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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Starred review from March 1, 2025
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* Two Newbery winners concoct a tale featuring two fifth-graders coincidentally named J and K--who in the line drawings look like junior versions of themselves--competing to win their K-8 school's annual creative-storytelling contest. J knows he makes the most awesome comics and feels he has a lock on being the first fifth-grader to win the upcoming competition. But then along comes new student K, flashing all these big words and an ability to whip out a cool poem "faster than you could say codswallop." How good is he? "Whenever K wrote something that really didn't make sense, his readers always thought it was their own fault for not understanding it." As the deadline approaches, both feel the pressure so acutely that, against their better judgment, in a wash of disingenuous helpfulness, they offer each other bogus tips on art and writing that each boy hopes will turn his rival's entry into "J-ibberish" or a "K-tastrophe." Happily, the two are smart enough to eventually realize they'll do better working together than sabotaging each other, and so they turn their conflict into a salty collaboration in time to dish up a gobsmacking comic, along the way 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.

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Starred review from April 4, 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

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