Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. The tale is set in the early 2000s, as awareness of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and its catastrophic consequences was beginning to emerge.Ī poignant and achingly beautiful narrative shedding light on the price of a violent sport.įrom award winner Telgemeier ( Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage. The well-rounded secondary characters complete a mosaic of a loving African American family and their community of friends. through ZJ’s eyes and agonize with him as the strong, vibrant athlete begins to fade. Using spare and lyrical language for ZJ’s present-tense narration, which moves back and forth through time, Woodson skillfully portrays the confusion, fear, and sadness when a family member suffers from brain injury and the personality changes it brings. As his dad slips further away, ZJ’s memories of better times grow closer than ever. Soon the headaches and memory lapses grow increasingly frequent and scary for ZJ and his mom, since the doctors do not seem to have any answers. The changes in his father begin slowly and intermittently. “Zachariah 44” was a fearless player who suffered many concussions during his playing career. And fortunately, ZJ has three friends who see him and not his father’s shadow. Although his dad is in the spotlight, he is full of love and attention for ZJ and his friends. loves his dad but wonders who he would be if his dad was not a famous athlete. Twelve-year-old Zachariah “ZJ” Johnson Jr. An African American preteen finds his world upended when his father, a retired professional football player, displays symptoms of traumatic brain injury.

Before the ever after woodson