Dairy Queen

January 9, 2013
By

Realistic-Fiction
By Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Reviewed by Morgan Sherwood
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Hawley and Red Bend High Schools have been rivals since the day they were built. Instead of war, they sort out their issues on the football field. Two of Red Bend’s best football players, Win and Bill Schwenk, live on a small dairy farm with their parents, younger sister DJ, and brother Curtis. When Win and Bill leave for college the farm is left shorthanded, and to top it all off their dad has to have hip surgery. DJ has to give up basketball to keep the farm above ground, basically running it by herself. When it’s thought that things can’t get any worse for DJ, Brian Nelson shows up at her doorstep. Brian, Hawley’s 2nd string quarterback, is forced by his coach to help out on the Schwenk’s farm. If Brian refuses, he won’t be a starter when football season begins. DJ is somehow roped into training Brian the same way her brothers used to train before college. Therefore, not only is DJ conversing with the enemy, she is helping him improve. Brian helps DJ realize that she and everyone around her is like one of the cows on her dairy farm, trapped in stalls, eating, sleeping, being milked, eating, sleeping, being milked…, doing what is expected of them and not a breath more. She can’t continue to live like that, she has to break the pattern. By training Brian in football, DJ is reminded how much she loves the game, running like the wind, catching the ball like a baby. She wants to play on Red Bend’s football team more than anything, but are the risks to great?

Dairy Queen is a well-written book capturing the idea that anyone can do anything, even a girl who wants to play football. This story also shows that you can’t judge a book by its cover. For example, if you judge too harshly on a first impression, you could miss out on an enormous amount of fun. I like how this book is written because it is directly from DJ’s point of view. The end contains a neat surprise that will leave you deep in thought. I recommend this book to teenage girls who know a little about football (not needed to understand the story, but it helps), enjoy books about high school drama, and understand complicated relationships.

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One Response to “ Dairy Queen ”

  1. MaddieM on January 17, 2013 at 6:14 am

    I can tell you completely reached for the stars when you wrote this. It really inspireed me to reach for the moon yet land among the stars! You really impressed me and I think you shoould look in to enrolling in Crawoford Miller School for the gifted. I’d love to buy you an ice cream sometime. SOunds like a nice book.

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