From School Library Journal
Grade 7-10-After her father is injured, 15-year-old D.J. Schwenk takes over the lion's share of work on her family's small Wisconsin dairy farm. Between milking cows, mucking out the barn, and mowing clover, this erstwhile jock takes on training Brian, the rival high school's quarterback. A monster crush and a tryout for her own school's football team ensue. D.J., a charming if slightly unreliable narrator, does a good deal of soul-searching while juggling her grinding work schedule, an uncommunicative family, and a best friend who turns out to be gay. Savvy readers will anticipate plot turns, but the fun is in seeing each twist through D.J.'s eyes as she struggles with whether she really is, as Brian puts it, like a cow headed unquestioningly down the cattle shoot of life. Wry narration and brisk sports scenes bolster the pacing, and D.J.'s tongue-tied nature and self-deprecating inner monologues contribute to the novel's many belly laughs. At the end, though, it is the protagonist's heart that will win readers over.
Dairy Queen will appeal to girls who, like D.J., aren't girly-girls but just girls, learning to be comfortable in their own skins. The football angle may even hook some boys. Fans of Joan Bauer and Louise Rennison will flock to this sweet confection of a first novel, as enjoyable as any treat from the real DQ.
-Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From AudioFile
Fifteen-year-old D.J. lives in Red Bend, Wisconsin, in a family in which all the boys play football. She's a basketball star. When her father breaks his hip, D.J. must give up sports and do all the milking, mucking, and mowing on their farm. During the summer D.J. trains the quarterback from rival Hawley High and discovers that football is her passion. Natalie Moore does an outstanding job creating such a likable D.J. that listeners will hang on every word. Moore sounds like a teenager. Her voice is characterized by sarcastic introspection and uncertainty, as well as an authentic questioning rise at the end of many a sentence. A.B. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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