First-chapter Friday : Before the Ever After, by Jacqueline Woodson

Each Friday that school is in session, I share the link to a read-aloud preview of a book from SRCSA library. The “First-chapter Friday” selection for Sept. 15, 2023 was Before the Ever After, by Jacqueline Woodson.

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? Before the Ever After was the winner, in 2021, of the Coretta Scott King (Author) Award.

Jacqueline Woodson was the recipient, in 2018, of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, which honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to children’s literature through books that demonstrate integrity and respect for all children’s lives and experiences.