Customer Reviews

The Off Season

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D.J. Schwenk spends Labor Day at the neighbors' picnic, eating and playing a baseball game so funny that she literally falls down laughing. But the family's cows must be milked and fed, so the Schwenks leave early to tend to their dairy farm chores. At home Brian Nelson shows up, to D.J.'s delight. Brian helps with the cows, he and D.J. discuss their last football game (they play on opposing teams), and then there's a little awkward shuffling as he prepares to leave. D.J. remembers how they botched their one attempt to make out as Brian takes off.



When school starts, D.J. discovers that she is no longer invisible, thanks to the fact that she's the only girl on the football team. However, D.J. doesn't like the attention; she joined the squad to prove to herself that she was unique, not to become public property.



D.J. is thrilled when Brian calls to ask her to ride with him to Minneapolis over the weekend. But she turns him down for Saturday because her brothers play college football. Watching the games with her family is more important than anything else, so she's relieved when Brian suggests a Sunday trip. Their excursion ends with kissing so inflammatory that D.J. suddenly understands how easy it would be to "Do Anything Stupid" (which her mother constantly warns her against).



To her amazement, D.J. learns that the paparazzi are after her story. She doesn't want people accusing her of being a linebacker to get publicity. But maybe those reporters from People won't show up after all...



Meanwhile, kids at school begin hassling D.J.'s best friend Amber because of Amber's girlfriend. Amber starts cutting school, which is a total bummer for D.J. Next, D.J. is benched for "bullying" when she was actually defending a kid from a real bully.



Can things go even more downhill? Certainly. D.J. grapples with the secret knowledge of her family's financial situation, impossible decisions that challenge her loyalties, physical pain and romantic confusion --- not to mention a whole load of humiliation. And then something happens that is so earth-shattering that it puts all her other trials into perspective.



Catherine Gilbert Murdock's characters are so real, I wouldn't be surprised to bump into one of them at the grocery store. There is not a stereotype to be found among the cast --- from the brilliant, good-with-little-kids younger brother to Amber and her barbecuing girlfriend Dale. And how refreshing it is to have a large, tall female main character who is in love but also plays football, roofs sheds, struggles with schoolwork and would never yearn to be a size 2.



The pace is lively, and the plot serves up surprising twists while staying true to life. As much as I enjoyed the first half of the book, once I hit the gut-twisting middle, I just could not put it down. THE OFF SEASON is a total winner, fulfilling the promise of the first installment of D.J.'s tale, DAIRY QUEEN. Dare we hope for a third?



--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

I'm 37 years old and I'll read any age level as long as it's good. This is great. I love D.J. She's tough and decent and has a hilarious inner voice and is just a genuinely great person. At times she's given almost too much for a teenager to handle but she does it because there's no one else and at their core Schwenks go out there and get the job done.

But what's really great about DJ is that she's not perfect. She gets angry and resentful and bottles up her feelings and shoves her foot in her mouth and thinks selfish thoughts. In other words she's a real, relatable person. Her family and the supporting characters are all vividly drawn and believable. No one's a villain and no one's perfect, just like real life. These books made me snicker and they made me cry and they made me smile about remembering the feeling of first love.

I really recommend both Dairy Queen and The Off Season and I'm planning to send them to my nieces pronto because DJ's a pretty awesome role model.

When DJ Schwenck got to join the Red Bend boy's football team, when she and Brian got together, and when she was finally able to "talk," she thought that all of her problems were simple solved. But once, while in practice, DJ hurt self and had to decide whether football was worth ruining her future for. Then Brian started acting all weird when they were together in public, and her older brother, Win, got hurt really bad during a football game. That's when DJ steps up, once again, to take all those burdens on her already-injured shoulders.

I thought Murdock's Dairy Queen, was the best coming-of-age-story I have ever read. Turns out, the off season is a progression of DJ's coming-of-age that started in the first book. Though containing a more no-nonsense tone than the previous book, it still contains numerous laugh-out-loud scenes, not because the situation is funny but simply because DJ says it as it is. Like the first book, this too is authentic, and Murdock strongly established that fact in its ending, it wasn't all happy-go-lucky, but then again it wasn't a sad one either. But rather well balanced, some people might not like the way DJ and Brian's relationship turned out to be, but I guess that also was realistic. What are you waiting for? Do yourself a favor and get this book, it simply is amazing.

I enjoyed this book as much as Dairy Queen. I really like the fact that D.J. is such a down to earth girl. You can't help but like her. She really makes you think about what is really important in life...like family and having a good character. I think Dairy Queen and The Off Season would be great books for every teenage girl to read.

This book, the sequel to Murdock's Dairy Queen, may be marketed for young adults, but it's not the equivalent of Sweet Valley High or The Princess Diaries, as both the book and heroine D.J. Schwenk have their feet planted firmly in reality. D.J. is a high school junior in rural Red Bend, Wisconsin, who has a lot on her plate: handling the pressure and jibes directed at her as the first female member of the high school football team; trying to figure out and handle her feelings for Brian, the quarterback of the rival high school team; and putting in hours of work on her family's dairy farm, worrying that said farm will soon go under; trying to reconnect with her best friend, Amber, who has recently come out and is dating an older woman; and, of course, struggling with school work.

The Off Season is such a gripping read that I read it a single sitting. D.J. is such a believable, sympathetic character and faces up to her challenges (including a big one towards the end of the novel) that the reader empathizes with her throughout, even when she does something somewhat foolish. Murdock does an admirable job of capturing the rhythm and concerns of small town and rural life and has an ear for dialogue. The supporting characters, including her father, mother and younger brother, ring true and are fleshed out enough that they give us a picture of D.J.'s upbringing and family life. This is one-level headed girl with a down-to-earth grip on what's important in life. I can't wait to read of her further adventures.

I was eager to read Catherine Murdock's The Off Season, sequel to Dairy Queen, because I loved the first book. The Off Season picks up right where Dairy Queen left off. Quiet, determined D.J. attends the Jorgensen's annual Labor Day picnic and starts her junior year in high school. School is a bit different for her now, because she's playing on the school football team. As a girl. So she gets more attention than she's used to. It's mostly positive attention, because she's good at football. So the year starts out well for D.J. Things really look up when the handsome rival quarterback, Brian (featured in the previous book), begins treating her as more than just a friend.

But alas, things start to go downhill from there. An injury makes D.J. question whether or not she can continue playing football. D.J.'s best friend, Amber, is wrapped up in a new girlfriend, causing some strain. D.J.'s favorite brother, Curtis, is sneaking around and lying to the family, and their mother throws out her back from the stress. Not to mention Brian's evident reluctance to be seen with D.J. out in public. And then a real tragedy occurs, changing everything for D.J. and her family.

Oh, how I love the Schwenk family. They are dysfunctional, but in a non-toxic, quirky sort of way. D.J. has to take on responsibilities well beyond her years because she's the only one physically and mentally capable of doing so. Her mother is laid low by the back injury. Her father's inability to help is based solely on his personal limitations, which D.J. accepts as part and parcel of who he is. As for D.J., she grows up tremendously over the course of a few difficult months. Here are a couple of examples that capture D.J.'s understanding of her family:

"Mom made it back from her walk, all pink and dripping and holding her back, which apparently doesn't like puffing so much. At least she didn't seem mad at me anymore. Sometimes time apart is just the same as an apology. It is in our family, anyway." (Chapter 10)

""Oh. Okay," Mom said, a hundred questions in her voice. Questions she couldn't ask because that's not our family." (Chapter 14)

I also enjoyed watching D.J.'s unfolding relationship with Brian, and her eventual understanding of the cause of Curtis's strange behavior. While I saw both resolutions coming, more or less, I still appreciated watching D.J. figure things out in her own way. And I promise, readers will appreciate the Curtis story.

But I think what I love most about The Off Season, as with Dairy Queen, is D.J.'s voice (both books are told in the first person, as D.J. looks back to summarize recent events). She's funny, in an offhand, shy sort of way, and completely genuine. It's hard to believe (and a bit sad to realize) that she isn't a real person. Here are just a few of my favorite examples:

"You know the expression "fall down laughing"? I actually did. I was laughing so hard, standing there on my little pitcher's mound, that after a while my knees didn't work and I had to lie down and try to breathe as I watched Curtis getting dragged around the bases. It was, hands down, the funniest thing I've ever seen." (Chapter 1)

""He shook his head. There are times when I'm next to someone and I don't feel incredibly taller than that person, and bigger too. This was not one of those times." (Chapter 3)

"Thinking back, I can't remember ever being that happy, straight happy, like I was that day. I mean, I get excited enough watching sports and doing them, but it wasn't the same. Maybe you can understand the difference." (Chapter 4)

"It's not such a good idea to go around kissing rival linebackers, at least not in high school football. I wouldn't know about the pros." (Chapter 6)

All in all, I like The Off Season at least as much as I liked Dairy Queen. I would recommend it to anyone, but especially to people looking for a strong coming of age story, filled with both heart and humor. Catherine Murdock can bring tears to my eyes, and then have me laughing on the next page. I don't know if there are any plans for it, and I admit that we leave D.J. with most loose ends fairly well wrapped up, but I would still love to see another chapter in her story. Highly, highly recommended for young adult and adult readers.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on June 24, 2007.

D.J. is a breath of fresh, down-to-earth country air, and one of the best female characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading about. She plays varsity football and not as the kicker, but the linebacker. She plays for Red Bend High School. Her boyfriend kind-of is Brian Nelson, one of the most popular guys at Hawley High School, and Hawley's quarterback. The two schools have been major rivals forever. Can their relationship survive football season?

D.J. isn't even the type of girl she envisions Brian dating. She's the strong, silent type like most of her family and nothing like the popular girls she thinks he'd prefer. When she's put on the spot, verbal acuity completely escapes her.

Good grades don't come easy to D.J., but she is an intelligent and witty narrator. Her adventures, misadventures and the struggles she faces throughout will make readers laugh, cry and blush. D.J. is trying to help keep her family's dairy farm going. Her best friend might be leaving town, thanks to the bullies at school teasing her for being a lesbian.

D.J. is also trying to keep from disappointing the team in her first season as a football player. These problems seem pretty major until her older brother Win, a quarterback for the University of Washington, is seriously injured on the football field.

The Off Season is the sequel to the a novel, Dairy Queen, winner of several awards including the Borders, Original Voices Award, in the Young Adult category.

Armchair Interviews says: This book should be on every young woman's bookshelf. Gift some young woman and listen to her rave about the wonderful and real characters.

When we last left D.J. Schwenk in Dairy Queen, she was trying to cope with her family's problems, the inclusion of Brian into her life, and surviving being on the Red Bend football team. You know, when most people thought girls shouldn't be on the team.

At first it seemed like she had found solutions to all of those problems. But all good things must come to an end, whether D.J. likes it or not.

With Brian being her sort of boyfriend, D.J. is pretty ecstatic, since not only is he hot and athletic, he is her first real boyfriend. But it sort of creates a problem since D.J. isn't so sure where there relationship is heading or if it is going at all. Brian isn't too sure, either, since it seems like D.J. would rather spend time with her family then hang out with him.

Her friend, Amber, is starting to get noticed, for all the wrong reasons, though. Now known as the girl with a girlfriend, Amber is beginning to change, once again, right in front of D.J.'s eyes, all because people in their town don't approve of that kind of relationship.

D.J.'s family is beginning to resolve their relationship problems. But when they think all is well, their financial problems come into play. Not only that, but D.J. herself and her brother, Win, suffer injuries that just might put an end to what they love the most.

While trying to control all of her problems, D.J. must be able to find her strength, the one that got her through her summer and the one that helped her get on the football team.

Once again, D.J. shines as a heroine who shows that everyone has the ability to get over any obstacle thrown their way.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

"The Off Season" by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is the second book in the Dairy Queen series about a family who owns a small Dairy farm in Wisconsin. The story is told through the eyes of D.J., a 16-yr.-old girl who leaves the farm to be with her older brother, Win, who gets a spinal cord injury playing college football. The story involves being friends with people no matter what others think and not letting the opinions of others stop you from living. This book delves into the brothers and sisters family dynamics of this family.

My favorite part of the book is when D.J. gets through to Win to make him care about getting better by letting him coach her in basketball at the gym and the rehab center. I liked the first book of this series better, but look forward to reading the last book of this trilogy, "Front and Center."

A delightful story.

Darlene Joyce (DJ) Schwenk attends Red Bend High School. She is on the football team as a linebacker - the only female linebacker in northern Wisconsin. She lives on a dairy farm that seems to always be in financial trouble. Sports is in her blood. Her older brother Win is starting quarterback for the University of Washington and her other brother Bill is a sophomore linebacker for the University of Minnesota. DJ likes football, but her real passion is basketball. She hopes to win a full scholarship playing basketball for a major university.

Things are looking up for DJ. She has made it to the eleventh grade and is on the girl's basketball team. Then her world comes tumbling down. Her father has surgery. She is forced to quit the team and take care of the farm. She learns her best friend is a lesbian. This doesn't bother her too much, but the other students are saying terrible things about Amber. To DJ Amber is Amber regardless of her feelings towards a girl.

DJ has become friends with Brian Nelson a rival football player from another high school. Brian is from a privileged family and his coach thinks he should have some work experience so he sends him to work at the Schwenk dairy farm. DJ soon has feelings for Brien but he seems to only want to see her in private - never asking her out on a date or to hang out with his friends. She feels he is embarrassed by her. She is not sophisticated like the other girls and feels more at ease around her football buddies than with other girls and boys.

Highly recommended. The Dairy Queen Trilogy is a must read if you are sixteen or sixty. Look for the author's next book Front and Center. You will enjoy it as much as the first two.

Originally published at BookGateway. This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.