Dairy Queen

The word "charming" is too vague, and it makes me think of smarmy real estate descriptions, but...I...can't...stop...myself. Dairy Queen is just so darn charming that I am forced to momentarily succumb. Catherine Gilbert Murdock has taken a traditional coming-of-age story about a tomboy in a small town and wrung some feisty new life out of it. Her character, DJ Schwenk, is a fifteen year old girl living on a dairy farm and learning about boys, football and family ties. The first few pages of Dairy Queen are a little disconcerting. DJ speaks in the first person with a simple style and slangy dialogue, and she definitely sounds like a fifteen year old from Wisconsin. Once I settled into her voice, though, I was hooked. DJ is disarmingly honest, naïve, observant and witty - Gilbert Murdock's voice is spot on. DJ's mixed feelings toward her family are a realistic combination of humor, angst and love, but they aren't overdone or corny. Gilbert Murdock also skillfully addresses some of the issues female athletes face. DJ gets called a "dyke" on the football field, but what upsets her more is that the opposing player pinches her butt as he says it. DJ describes herself as "big" and "strong," but she has no more than an occasional pang of jealousy for the thin "girly girls." She may not be free from insecurity, but she is comfortable in her skin. I found DJ's healthy body image and appetite to be a refreshing departure from teen weight and popularity obsession. More importantly, DJ's focus on training and competition rings true to anyone who has ever loved to play. When that focus begins to clash with a budding summer romance, DJ is forced to make decisions she has been putting off all summer. By that point I was praying for a sequel as charming as the debut.

This book was a Christmas present from a friend. I started it, and literally could not put it down. Because it is geared toward a younger audience, it was a relatively quick read. However, there is a twist at the end that I did not expect AT ALL, and the sheer creativity of it brought tears to my eyes (I am not a big crier, especially for books, but it was so startling and wonderful!!). It was FANTASTIC! The development of the characters was believable and the growth and change in relationships that happen so quickly at that age was very true-to-life. (I agree that some of the adults were rather two-dimensional; however, sometimes when I was a teen, that was exactly how the adults appeared to me. It was believable.) This is a wonderful, quicker read that is appropriate for middle school students and older. It is on my list to give to our middle school and our local library. Even adults will enjoy this book. At the very least, it would be wonderful beach reading.

D.J. Schwenk is the third child, and only daughter, of a small-town Wisconsin dairy farmer. The summer she turns sixteen finds her shouldering much of the load of the farm, because her two older brothers are off at football camp, and her father has an injured hip. She doesn't complain much, and struggles to meet the expectations of her demanding father, but inside, she's not happy. She's doing poorly in school, because of the farm work, and had to quit the basketball team, where she was a star. She has a best friend, Amber, but things aren't perfect between them either. And she worries about her younger brother, Curtis, who hardly ever talks. A family friend, the football coach of the rival high school, sends one of his star players to help out on the Schwenk's farm. Brian Nelson has a great arm, but has been spoiled by his father, and doesn't have much discipline or team spirit. Before she quite knows what's happening, D.J. agrees to train Brian, to help him get ready for the fall season. They have to keep this a secret, because the towns are such strong rivals, and Brian ends up helping out on the farm quite a bit as camouflage for what they're really doing. After a prickly start, Brian and D.J. learn to talk to one another openly, and both grow as a result. The story is told in D.J.'s first-person voice, which is necessary, because she's so quiet that we could never get to know her in third person. But inside her head, D.J. has a lot to say, and a thoughtful, sometimes sarcastic, voice. Here are a few examples: "If there ever was a TV show called People Who Are Crazy and Need to Have Their Heads Examined, I'd be the very first guest. They'd put me on one of those couches and a guy with a beard and funny accent would ask me questions, and the audience would ooh and aah as they realized this girl was crazy. What else would explain what I had just done?" (Chapter 8) "I kept eating, my head down. Mom kept talking, but I didn't say anything else because that's what we Schwenk's do. If there's a problem or something, instead of solving it or anything, we just stop talking. Just like cows." (Chapter 9) "Amber was pretty good at making fun of people, but Brian -- well, he did make fun of other people, like me not being able to talk or his mom and sunblock, but it wasn't mean. It was just fun. If I had to make a list of the very best qualities someone could have, that would be right at the top. Being nice-fun instead of mean-fun." (Chapter 12) D.J. does think a lot about football, and about cows, but for the most part she uses them as metaphors to think about larger questions. For instance, she draws analogies between people's rote actions and the day to day existence of cows, wanting to not be like a cow (someone who doesn't make choices) herself. She made me think about my own life, and times when I go through the motion on a day-to-day basis vs. displaying initiative. Dairy Queen is a romance, in a sense, as we explore the growing friendsh

I picked this book up because the cover got to me in a big way. If I owned the original photograph, I'd frame it. When I started browsing through the book, I got hooked by the marvelous DJ and the story of what happens when nobody talks about what's going on in their lives and their hearts. To an adult, urban reader in this psychologized world, Dairy Queen is a thriller. Each muted half-conversation is tense with things unsaid and with personhood denied. It's a book I would have loved to share with my kid. --Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN 9781601640005

Not just for Teens. I loved it and then gave as a gift it to a Godchild of 30 something who loved it too. so now I am waiting to get the report from the two teens; one girl and one boy who have it. Something so sharp about dealing with real imperfect people in a loving way. Nothing held back in growing up and learning to be an adult. Whatever age it seems to have a truth about change and resposibility. And definitley made me laugh again and again.