Just as I felt after I read Long Way Down, I feel that the middle grade novel-in-verse Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020) gave me a window into a different world. In this story, ZJ is dealing with his father’s progressive cognitive decline, which comes with nightmarish migraines, mood swings, and occasional violence. The most painful part is that his father cannot remember him and so their sweet moments have changed. To complicate these difficulties is the fact that ZJ’s dad is a Super Bowl champion, and he is only 35, now being forced into retirement because of these difficulties after a lifetime of concussions. He has gone from being everyone’s hero to someone ZJ’s friends want to avoid.
The book is separated into two parts: “Before the Ever After” and “The Ever After.” In the first section ZJ’s narration reminisces on the sweet parts of being the football champion’s only son. Of course, to ZJ, his dad would have been a hero no matter what! The second half of the book details his coming to terms with his father’s worsening condition. At first, he feels left out and shunned by his friends. As he begins accept and acknowledges that things are different, his friendships feel more satisfying to him again. ZJ finds refuge in his music and finds that, even when his dad cannot remember who he is, the music helps him make a connection.
Jacqueline Woodson wrote this book, which takes place in the year 2000 and 2001, as a commentary on the increasing awareness during those years of what the result of years of concussions will do to the human body. Apparently doctors did not know how to explain the cognitive decline the football champions were experiencing. Really? I could tell, even as a child who did not really watch football, that getting tackled and hit in the head certainly was not a good thing for humans to endure to the extent that football players experienced! Of course there was a consequence!
Before the Ever After was touching as it looked at a young child’s perspective on loss and acceptance. In general, though, the mystery of a football player’s developing mental issues was not interesting or compelling to me at all. Mostly because of the “duh” feeling I had as I read the book. Was it really such of a mystery in 2001 why football players were mentally unwell? Could ZJ or his mom not have put 2 and 2 together themselves, without doctors to tell them they “didn’t know” why?
