Before the Ever After

WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD


WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARD

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodsons 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 everyones hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, hes as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJs house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJs mom explains its because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career. ZJ can understand that--but it doesnt 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 cant remember it. And most importantly, can those happy feelings ever be reclaimed when they are all so busy aching for the past?