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2021 Mock Newbery Winning Selections
By Kristen · 14 posts · 266 views
By Kristen · 14 posts · 266 views
last updated Feb 16, 2021 02:44PM
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What Members Thought
Jacqueline Woodson's newest book Before the Ever After is a masterpiece. ZJ and his family and friends will stay with you long after you turn the final page. Football may be the hook but the characters and the poetic language are the true touchdown in this beautiful book. I cannot wait to share it with kids soon!
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I started this book not knowing anything about the story. Just trusted Jacqueline Woodson to tell a good story. And she did. Drew me right into a close-knit extended family, a pack of boys with a range of talents, a professional football player with CTE.
The heart of the book is the family story, but step back and think with your lens of criticality. This is also a book about what our society values: professional athletes who perform for us week after week. This is also a book to make us think a ...more
The heart of the book is the family story, but step back and think with your lens of criticality. This is also a book about what our society values: professional athletes who perform for us week after week. This is also a book to make us think a ...more
I was given this ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Jacqueline Woodson has done it again. She crafted this incredibly poignant story chronicling a family’s struggles when the professional football player father suffers from traumatic brain injuries. This book offers so many rich opportunities for discussion and writing. I’d loved to be in the room when a group of tween football fans talk about this book. Woodson can do no wrong.
Heartbreaking story told in vignettes that read like word poems. Excellent audio book.
A poignant, eye-opening novel in verse regardless of if you’re a football fan. In a first-person narrative, 12 year old Black "ZJ" witnesses & copes with his star NFL playing father suffering from inexplicable headaches, memory loss, mood swings, and more symptoms of degenerative brain disease with the help of a loving, close-knit family & community who knows his family for more than his father’s fame. Well-developed characters portray the darker side of glory, family suffering & strength, espec
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Beautiful and poignant.
A beautiful audiobook addressing professional football players and their long term injuries. The narrator was excellent!
Sad, quick read, but powerful.
Green. 176 pages
Jun 04, 2020
Molly
marked it as to-read
Aug 04, 2020
Dest
marked it as to-read
Aug 16, 2020
Sara
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Sep 10, 2020
Julie
marked it as to-read
Nov 28, 2020
Sarita
marked it as to-read
