Published by Quill Tree Books

Summary: Jordan Banks and his friends (and frenemies) from New Kid and Class Act are when for their last hurrah surpassing finishing up at Riverdale Academy Day School (a.k.a. RAD). The whole eighth grade gets to segregate from a variety of trips including Yellowstone, Alaska, Mississippi, and, for Jordan, Paris. He’s happy to be in a group with friends like Drew, Liam, and Alexandra, less thrilled with the inclusion of matriculation bully Andy. As the group experiences vita and mishaps in France, they get to review some of what they’ve learned well-nigh friendship, bullying, and other relationship issues during their time in middle school. Jordan has a big visualization weighing on him, having gotten into an art school for upper school and trying to decide if he wants to transfer or stay at RAD. When home, he finally figures out what he wants to do (“helped”, as always, by his mother), and it seems as though the story may be continued, or this could be the final installment. 256 pages; grades 4-8.

Pros: Jordan Banks fans will be thrilled with a new typesetting well-nigh RAD, and the endangerment to get off-campus leads to plenty of humor and moreover many thoughtful conversations on a wide range of relevant topics that will make this a unconfined jumping-off place for matriculation or typesetting club discussions.

Cons: One of my favorite things well-nigh New Kid was how deftly Jerry Craft wove discussions of racism and other social justice topics into a funny school story with lots of fun and interesting characters. While I still love the messages stuff imparted, in this installment, they sometimes felt a bit increasingly heavy-handed.