--- description: Jerry Craft's Newbery Medal win proves once and for all that comics and graphic novels are real books, real reading, says Raina Telgemeier. title: Raina Telgemeier on Why Jerry Craft's Newbery Medal Matters image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte17e600058e4b1a2/698a0973b3fce30da90c63fb/raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Raina Telgemeier on Why Jerry Craft's Newbery Medal Matters by [Raina Telgemeier](/author/raina-telgemeier/) ## Raina Telgemeier Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 30, 2020 11:48 AM CUT  by [Raina Telgemeier](/author/raina-telgemeier/) ## Raina Telgemeier Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 30, 2020 11:48 AM CUT When Jerry Craft became the very first graphic novelist to receive a Newbery Medal, he shattered a glass ceiling for cartoonists, who have long been looked at as producing “lesser” literature than their prose-writing siblings. I am so proud of him. The Jan. 27 announcement that the prestigious prize for American children’s literature will go to his _New Kid,_ the story of a seventh-grader who doesn’t fit in at his mostly white private school, is a victory for Jerry and for the art form of comics. Jerry’s win (after many, many years of hard work) proves once and for all that comics and graphic novels are real books, real reading, and really and truly deserve shelf space front and center. It has been a joy to watch sequential art evolve and to see the warm reception graphic novels have received from young readers and awards committees alike! How joyous that when children read _New Kid_ in decades to come, they will feel the tactile merit of the golden sticker on its cover. _Telgemeier is the Eisner Award–winning author of the best-selling graphic novel Guts_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5774284/raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5774284/raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal/"},"headline":"Raina Telgemeier on Why Jerry Craft's Newbery Medal Matters","datePublished":"2020-01-30T11:48:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:09:08.531Z","description":"First Newbery Medal for a graphic novel","url":"https://time.com/5774284/raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte17e600058e4b1a2/698a0973b3fce30da90c63fb/raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raina Telgemeier","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raina-telgemeier/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte17e600058e4b1a2/698a0973b3fce30da90c63fb/raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5774284/raina-telgemeier-jerry-craft-newbery-medal/","name":"Raina Telgemeier on Why Jerry Craft's Newbery Medal Matters"}}]}] ```