WINNER OF THE NAACP IMAGE AWARDWINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING AUTHOR AWARDNational Book Award
winner Jacqueline Woodson's stirring novel-in-verse explores how a family moves forward when
their glory days have passed and the cost of professional sports on Black bodies. 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?
