NANCY PAULSEN BOOKS

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

Copyright © 2020 by Jacqueline Woodson

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

“TURN THE WORLD AROUND” by Harry Belafonte and Robert Freedman

Published by Clara Music Publishing Corp. (ASCAP)

Administered by Next Decade Entertainment, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Nancy Paulsen Books is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Visit us online at penguinrandomhouse.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Woodson, Jacqueline, author.

Title: Before the ever after / Jacqueline Woodson.

Description: New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, [2020] | Summary: ZJ’s friends Ollie, Darry and Daniel help him cope when his father, a beloved professional football player, suffers severe headaches and memory loss that spell the end of his career.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020018310 | ISBN 9780399545436 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780399545450 (ebook)

Subjects: CYAC: Novels in verse. | Brain—Diseases—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Fathers and sons—Fiction. | Memory—Fiction. | Football—Fiction. | African Americans—Fiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.5.W67 Bc 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020018310

Ebook ISBN 9780399545450

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AUTHOR PHOTO BY TIFFANY A. BLOOMFIELD

ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE SINGLETON

DESIGN BY THERESA EVANGELISTA

pid_prh_5.5.0_c0_r0