Before the Ever After

Written by Jacqueline Woodson

Narrated by Guy Lockard

WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD

WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARD

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson's stirring novel-in-verse explores how a family moves forward when their glory days have passed and the cost of professional sports on Black bodies.

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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780593341216

Reviews for Before the Ever After

[lou_intheberkshires · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Touching melodic story of relationship and sports illness, from a boy whose father is the football hero of the community. I’m glad finally high schools, with physicians, are treating concussion as a serious injury, & there are protocols in place for testing beforehand, treatment, and talking about it.

[nadinec.keels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I feel like it'd be too much to say much after reading this middle grade novel-in-verse.

By turns, it's joyful, poignant, scary, heartbreaking, and hopeful, while being as altogether beautiful as the spot-on imagery depicting father-son love on the book cover.

I'm quite an American football fan, highly enjoyed the days when one of my family members played, and I've been watching the rule changes and new protocol coming to the game in recent years.

This book is a deftly resounding reminder of what the changes are for.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love poetry and try to get at least one poetry read in April each year. This novel is verse is suitable for middle-school-aged children but deals with a serious issue – brain injury resulting from multiple concussions while participating in contact sports.

ZJ is the only child of professional football star Zachariah Johnson, but to ZJ, his father isn’t a star, he is “Just my dad.” The action takes place beginning in 1999, before doctors had clearly identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and the role that repeated blows to the head played in development of this degenerative brain disease. ZJ and his parents struggle to make sense of what is happening to the formerly strong, happy, loving father and husband. ZJ is helped by his best buddies: Darry, Ollie and Daniel. These boys comfort and distract ZJ when things get tough.

I am in awe at how much information Woodson can convey in so few words. The poetry format allows the author to get straight to the emotion of the situation. But make no mistake, she paints some vivid pictures and fully realized characters.

At the end of the story, Woodson includes a note about CTE and the efforts of the medical community (and professional sports organizations) to combat it. I recall recently seeing a news article about a newly designed football helmet specifically for quarterbacks.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Told in prose - this middle grade novel is full of heartbreak and hope. Set in the early 2000s, this novel follows one boy and his fathers worsening CTE (although in this book they don't know what his dad has yet). ZJ has always been proud of his dad, he's a superhero and as far as he's concerned he's the best pro-football player in the world. But lately he's been acting weird. He keeps repeating the same things, getting angry and forgetful; he's losing his old dad. Since his dad's headaches have progressively worsened, he's stopped playing football and he's not practicing with his team. Some days he can't even leave his darkened room. ZJ takes comfort in his three best friends, his mom's strength, and music. Beautiful and captivating.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

At once a cry of pain and a response, a novel in verse that tells the story of the fracturing of a relationship and the comfort and care from the community. Tells the story of a young boy, ZJ, as he copes with the radical change in his father's abilities and behaviors after years of concussions. Short, powerful, poignant.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A novel in verse about a boy, ZJ, who sees his professional football father impacted by brain injury. The family is scared and in crisis, relishing good days, and seeking support for bad. ZJ has a strong friendship good and the book models how to support friends in crisis.

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is short, but it packs a gut wrenching punch. ZJ's father is the tight end for a Super Bowl winning football team. He's famous, charming, and superstar sports hero. But to ZJ, he's more than a hero, he's dad. But not only does ZJ's father famous for his football achievements, he also holds the record for most concussions. And eventually the concussions lead to serious medical issues.

This story is told with so much emotion and heart. The target audience is middle-grade, but adults as well as children, will be touched by this story.

[jrlibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I kept seeing this book appear on multiple "best of" lists and that is what convinced me to read it. Have to say that I wasn't as wowed as everyone else. I thought it was great to have a book dealing with CTE, a topic not commonly found in young adult fiction, but that wasn't enough for me to rave about the book.
I did enjoy the honesty and emotion of ZJ junior and his portrayal of life in a household dealing with his dad's illness, but that wasn't enough for me to say it was an incredible book. Liked it and would definitely want it on my school shelf, but maybe the hype just ruined it for me.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Zachariah Johnson Jr. is the son of "Zachariah 44," a Super Bowl champion who is revered by football fans everywhere. But he's had to stop playing because he's exhibiting strange symptoms and odd behavior: migraines, loss of memory, aggression, depression. As ZJ and his mother witness his decline, they cannot get clarity from the doctors. Backed by the emotional support of friends, ZJ keeps in mind the good memories of his dad and treasures his moments of lucidity. Their love and relationship are portrayed with warmth and sensitivity, a love letter to the father-son bond.

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Told in verse, this is a quick read though the brevity of the experience doesn’t detract from its impact in telling the story of a father and son whose relationship changes after the father, a professional football player, suffers head trauma.

This probably could have spent a little more time addressing sports organizations’ part in the problem, their tendency to put winning results/money ahead of player health/safety (not just football, across the board in every sport) and the role that plays in long term injury/quality of life in retirement, though given the age of the intended audience for this book as well as the age of ZJ, the story’s main character, it’s understandable that the author would choose not to delve too deep into the accountability aspect and instead mostly focus on family.

A few more scenes between ZJ and his mom would have been welcome, though this did a tremendous job of capturing the relationship between ZJ and his dad, completely drawing in the reader with their closeness and just how devastating it is as the disease pulls them apart, when the confusion sets in, the yelling, the silence, the failure to remember his son’s name.

There are certainly some heavy moments here, its illustrating the aftermath of concussions in a way that’s super personal to a young boy, but the book has some lovely bright spots as well through the support of friends and most especially as father and son connect through music.