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Synopses & Reviews
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?
Review
"Woodson skillfully portrays the confusion, fear, and
sadness when a family member suffers from brain injury and the
personality changes it brings....A poignant and achingly beautiful
narrative..." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Review
"Woodson again shows herself to be a masterful
writer, and her meaningful exploration of concussions and head injuries
in football...provides
young athletes with necessary insights into sport's less glamorous
side. " Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"A beautiful and
heart-wrenching story....Eloquent prose poetry creates a moving
narrative that reveals the grief of a child trying to understand why his
father has changed and why nothing can be done." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Jacqueline Woodson was the
2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. In 2018,
she received both the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the Children's
Literature Legacy Award. Her
New York Times bestselling memoir,
Brown Girl Dreaming, won a National Book Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Newbery Honor, NAACP Image Award, and Sibert Honor. Her adult book
Another Brooklyn was a National Book Award finalist. Her over two dozen books include Newbery Honor winners
Feathers, Show Way, and
After Tupac and D Foster;
Miracle's Boys, which won the
LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award, and the
New York Times bestsellers
Harbor Me and
The Day You Begin. She also received the Margaret A. Edwards
Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult
literature and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her
family in Brooklyn, New York.