The audiobook received a starred review from Booklist. Goodreads Choice Award for Middle Grade & Children's As ZJ’s mom and many doctors try to figure out what is. Through the eyes of twelve-year-old ZJ, Woodson tells the story of ZJ’s dad, a famous pro football player who is suddenly plagued by long, intense headaches, dramatic mood changes, and unnerving memory loss. ZJ’s closeness with his friends buoys him during the tough times with his father. Before the Ever After is set in the early 2000s, when little was known about the dangers of repeated head injuries in football. Using character development, she shows readers that family and friends are how people get through tough times and get to okay, just as family and friends make up the sweetest memories of the times before tragedy strikes. Through the eyes of twelve-year-old ZJ, Woodson tells the story of ZJ’s dad, a famous pro football player who is suddenly plagued by long, intense headaches, dramatic mood changes, and unnerving memory loss. Apr 21 Jaqueline Woodson has done it again with this gorgeous novel in verse. Guy Lockard delivers an outstanding performance of Jacqueline Woodson’s brief, eloquent story of 12-year-old ZJ, whose father, a former pro football player, is suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens Jaqueline Woodson has done it again with this gorgeous novel in verse. Kirkus named it one of the best books of the year. Before the Ever After is a middle-grade novel in verse by Jacqueline Woodson, published Septemby Nancy Paulsen Books.īefore the Ever After received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness, as well as a positive review from The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.

Before the ever after woodson