Dairy Queen » (None)

Catherine Murdock grew up on a small farm in Connecticut, where she wisely avoided all sports involving hand-eye coordination. She now lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband, two brilliant unicycling children, several cats, and a one-acre yard that she is slowly transforming into a wee but flourishing ecosystem. She is the author of several books, including the popular Dairy Queen series starring lovable heroine D. J. Schwenk, the fantasy novel Princess Ben, and Front and Center.

This is the summer that fifteen-year-old D. J. Schwenk, expert at cows and football, learns an awful lot about love and life.

A farmgirl who loves football a football playing farmer who loves the Food Network a mother who loves her career a nerd who loves cheerleading and an all-star athlete who loves dentistry D.J. describes them all in her modest, funny, and honest voice.

D.J. Schwenk, a 16-year-old living on her family s farm in Wisconsin, comes from a family of football stars. Football is so important in her family that even the cows are named after famous football players. The Schwenks may excel in football but they definitely don t excel in communication. D.J. recognizes that her family does not discuss important issues and decides she must search for the strength to look for greener pastures in her own life. When she finds the courage to do what really makes her happy, she discovers passions in the people she loves and learns to appreciate each more fully.

Publishers Weekly

If you ask 15-year-old tomboy D.J. Schwenk, summer is off to a lousy start. But, since she's not real big on talking and neither is anyone in her family no one's likely to hear or understand her complaints. D.J. is saddled with all the chores at the Schwenk dairy farm while her father recuperates from an injury, her mother takes on extra work at the local school and her older, football-legend brothers stay away from home due to a family rift. Then Brian Nelson, the conceited quarterback from D.J.'s rival high school, is assigned by his coach (and Schwenk family friend) to help out on the farm. Sparks of all kinds, and cow pies, fly as D.J. and Brian eventually bond over work and football, and D.J. tries out for her own school's varsity team. Moore does an excellent job of mastering a natural, Midwestern accent that whisks listeners right to Wisconsin. She's wholly believable as a teenager struggling with attitudes about first love, friendship, gender and sexuality, self-confidence and sports. Ages 12-up. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.