The Margret and H. A. Rey Curious George Lecture is always a good time, and this year the Cambridge (MA) Public Library hosted Jerry Craft. Craft is the author/illustrator of New Kid — the only book to have won the Newbery, CSK Author Award, and Kirkus Prize; and the first graphic novel to have won the Newbery — and its sequels: Class Act and School Trip.

He talked about not feeling like a reader as a kid (what he did love reading — comics — he was told would "rot my little brain"), about identifying most with Pip from Great Expectations among school-reading choices ("at least he was a kid"), and about being the New Kid in various situations.

He showed scenes from his Mama's Boyz comics, with some how-tos about the art, and talked about his unique publishing journey. After years of self-publishing his own work and others', Craft was approached by a traditional publishing house and became "an overnight success after thirty years!" He took inspiration from graphic-novel contemporaries and pioneers such as Jeff Kinney (see below) and Raina Telgemeier; and anyone familiar with Craft's work knows he loves to pay homage. Let's just say: the last word of School Trip, SMILE!, is not a coincidence. There were indeed lots of smiles that evening, both from enthusiastic audience members and the "Author · Illustrator · Nice Guy" onstage.