BEFORE THE EVER
MASL Book Trailer Winner
About the Author
Jacqueline Woodson is an American author of books for children and adolescents. She is best known for Miracle's Boys, and her Newbery Honor-winning titles Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way. Woodson decided to become an author to write about communities that were familiar to her and people that were familiar to her. She wanted to write about communities of color, girls, friendship and all of the things she felt were missing in a lot of the books she read as a child. Woodson employs several common themes in many of her novels. These include: issues of gender, class and race as well as family and history. She is uses these common themes in unconventional ways. Woodson most often writes about her character's search for self rather than a quest for equality or social justice. Woodson has influenced many other writers, including An Na, who credits her as being her first writing teacher. Woodson lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her partner Juliet Widoff, a physician. The couple have two children, a daughter named Toshi Georgianna and a son named Jackson-Leroi.
About the Book
For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he's as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ's house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ's mom explains it's because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that--but it doesn't make the sting any less real when his own father forgets his name. As ZJ contemplates his new reality, he has to figure out how to hold on tight to family traditions and recollections of the glory days, all the while wondering what their past amounts to if his father can't remember it. And most importantly, can those happy feelings ever be reclaimed when they are all so busy aching for the past?
Praise for Before the Ever After:
WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD
WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARD
* “Woodson’s text may be spare, but it has the emotional wallop of an offensive tackle.”—Shelf Awareness, starred review
* “Woodson’s latest novel in verse conveys that not all success stories have a fairy-tale ending. Readers will feel an immediate connection to ZJ and his group of authentic, complex friends and family. The idea of showing the dark side of fame through the experiences of a young family member is a unique perspective that will resonate with readers of all ages. ZJ’s story will stay with the audience long after the last page is read. A first choice for all collections. A unique take on sports and fame told from an unexpected perspective, and another incredible read delivered by Woodson.”—School Library Journal, starred review
* “Using spare and lyrical language for ZJ’s present-tense narration, which moves back and forth through time, Woodson skillfully portrays the confusion, fear, and sadness when a family member suffers from brain injury and the personality changes it brings. . . . The well-rounded secondary characters complete a mosaic of a loving African American family and their community of friends. . . . A poignant and achingly beautiful narrative shedding light on the price of a violent sport.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* “Woodson delivers a poignant new novel in verse that highlights an important topic within the sports world, especially football. . . . ZJ’s life quickly turns from charmed to tragic as he has to face that his father and family are forever changed. . . . Woodson again shows herself to be a masterful writer, and her meaningful exploration of concussions and head injuries in football, a subject rarely broached in middle-grade fiction, provides young athletes with necessary insights into sport’s less glamorous side. In addition to this, it is a novel that explores family, mental illness, and the healing that a tight-knit, loving community can provide.”—Booklist, starred review
* “Woodson explores the impact of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) on football players and their families from the perspective of ZJ, son of tight end Zachariah ‘44’ Johnson. . . . In lyrical verse, Woodson conveys the confusion and loss that many families feel as they try to figure out what is wrong with their loved one. Each of the poems ably captures the voice of the story’s preteen boy protagonist; readers can feel the sense of love and loss that ZJ is experiencing as his dad slips away. Even though that loss is difficult, Woodson reminds readers that life’s challenges are more easily faced with the support of friends and family.”—Horn Book, starred review
* “A beautiful and heart-wrenching story. . . . Eloquent prose poetry creates a moving narrative that reveals the grief of a child trying to understand why his father has changed and why nothing can be done. An ardent account of the multitudes of losses experienced by those who suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy and its effects on their families, ZJ’s doleful tale unveils the intense nostalgia and hope one can feel despite realizing that sometimes what is lost can never be regained.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This is a heartbreaking tale brimming with sympathy, and it draws much of its impact from the characterization of Zachariah’s father; while the portrait is obviously burnished by ZJ’s hero worship, it’s also clear that Zachariah Senior is a man of deep kindness and generosity who loves his son greatly, and whose decline leaves a huge hole in his fiercely close African-American family. ZJ’s move toward music and his increasing reliance on his friends are age-appropriate shifts that have particular poignance given the situation. While the football and CTE elements give this resonance for young athletes, many readers will be sadly familiar with the painful waning of a family member, and they’ll be heartened by ZJ’s love and resilience.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
Resources/Teaching Ideas
Critical Literacy (Grades 6-8)
Black Football Players, CTE, and Racism. Share the following two articles with your students, which address racial bias in dementia testing and legal settlements: NYTimes: Black Former N.F.L. Players Say Racial Bias Skews Concussion Payouts and NYTimes: Lawmakers Ask N.F.L. About Race Norms Used in Concussion Settlement. Engage your students in a discussion of these examples of systemic racism. Connect these examples to a broader history of racism in anthropology and medical research (use Jason Reynolds’ and Ibram Kendi’s Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You as a resource).
Author’s Website: Jacqueline Woodson
Poetry Foundation: Jacqueline Woodson
Reading Rockets: Jacqueline Woodson Video Interview
NPR: Jacqueline Woodson Wants Kids to Know the Beauty – And the Danger of Football
CBS This Morning: Jacqueline Woodson
NYTimes Topics: Head Injuries in Football
National Alliance for Grieving Children: Covid19 Resources
Social Media