Middle Grade Monday: Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

Image: Penguin Random House

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson. 268 p. Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Random House, September, 2020. 9780399545436. (Review of purchased copy.)

Happy Monday TMS readers! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Running a bit late with posts again. I'm sorry. Middle Grade Monday features Before the Ever After written by Jacqueline Woodson. This is Ms. Woodson's latest novel for middle grade and it's a verse novel, meaning the story is told in a series of mostly blank verse poems by our main character ZJ. 

Twelve-year-old Zacharaiah was named after his dad, who is a football star. ZJ gets attention wherever he goes mostly because of his dad, but he has a tight crew of friends who like him for himself. The story takes place in the early 1980s before the effects of multiple concussions was widely known. ZJ's dad has had many concussions and now he's changed. Sometimes his memory is off and it hurts ZJ when his own dad doesn't know who he is. Sometimes it's scary, like the times his dad goes into violent rages and the police need to be called. The scariest part is that the doctors don't know what's happening with his dad or whether he will be fixed. 

Woodson's poems evoke the myriad of emotions ZJ experiences in this brief, heartfelt novel in verse. If you're a fan of verse novels, then read this book. If you're a fan of football, you must read this book.