Dairy Queen Kindle Edition

When I read a contemporary YA book that's as enjoyable and wonderful as this one, I wonder why I don't read more contemporary YA. I like to read for meaty issues--and this book actually has some--but I also like to read for the sheer joy of reading, which is why it's such a pleasure to pick up a book like this one. I wanted to just fall into the pages and spend as much time with its characters as I possibly good.One thing that really struck me about this book was its voice. I liked how it was sort of stream-of-consciousness at times. The wording was very inelegant, and that made the book wonderful because it felt like I actually was reading the musings of a teenager who was growing up on a farm. Sometimes characters in YA novels feel more sophisticated than they should. This isn't to say that there aren't sophisticated teenagers out there, because of course there are, but adolescence is a time when you spend so much of your time flailing away that I liked that it showed in this book. Even adults don't always have it all figured out, so it was refreshing to read a book like this, where I wasn't confused by a world-weary attitude that felt too old for a sixteen-year-old character.Along with the well-done voice, this is a book that tackles a variety of issues in a sensitive, convincing way. D.J. and her family are pretty typical in that they have trouble talking about any big issues. It's uncomfortable to do this, and I could really buy into the idea that they spend a lot of time concealing what they feel. Naturally, their reluctance to talk about anything leads to a whole host of issues, and I thought Murdock did a wonderful job of showing how difficult it can be to find your voice and to talk about the things that really matter with the people you love the most. The family dynamic was just so convincing and so well done. No one is really to blame, and none of the characters are what I would consider bad, they're just all human beings whose foibles complicate their lives and relationships. I don't mind really angsty books if they have something to say, but it's nice to read something down-to-earth, where people are dealing with the sort of communications issues most of us deal with on a regular basis.I loved D.J. as a character. I loved that she wasn't anyone uber special. She felt like a girl to whom I could relate, a girl who might actually exist. She makes mistakes, she does dumb things, and she acts in ways that hurt other people, even when that's not her intent. Yet her earnestness pulled me in, and I really felt for her as she struggled to figure out what she wanted out of her life. I think it's normal for a lot of people at that age to feel that way, to pause in the middle of doing all those things they're told they're supposed to do and wonder what the point is. I liked that D.J. had her own reasons for wanting to pursue football, and I like that, though Murdock touches on the difficulties this entails, it doesn't become some huge deal or the impetus for an epic battle. The story is more personal, and I was glad for it.As soon as I finished this book, I noticed that there were two more and I instantly wanted to read them. While this is a trilogy, this first book isn't like the first book in most trilogies that I read. The story arc is complete, the important things are tied up, but there's still more room for story, more potential for growth from all the characters. I can hardly wait to spend more time with the Schwenks.

4.5 starsI loved this book so much I read it in one sitting in the bathtub of all places. And trust me, I live in student housing in desperate need of renovation so that is by no means a cozy bathtub, but I was so engrossed in this story that I kept reading long after the water got cold.I admit, I grew up on a farm driving tractors ever since I was a little kid (so young that I look at my kids and think Were my parents really crazy enough to let me operate machinery when I was that age???) so I LOVED all of DJ's description of the farm. This setting was pitch perfect for me. Catherine Murdock knows about agriculture and farm living and Midwestern charm. That part about having to send a favorite cow, Joe Namath, away in her old age? I have lived this, so I felt a connection to this story and its characters that I haven't felt in a long time.Besides that setting, I was captivated by DJ's authentic voice. As she struggles to be seen by her family and find her own balance between her work on the farm and pretty much everything else that takes a back seat to that, I felt equal parts admiration and sympathy for this hard-working girl who needs a bit of appreciation.Of course I love a little romance in my YA books, and Dairy Queen has just a dash of romance that develops perfectly in that slow, realistic kind of way.I've had this book sitting on my shelf unread for two years, so thanks to Colette who read it and told me I was going to love it because she knew me back during the farm girl days. She was right.Everything that is wrong in Catching Jordan is right in Dairy Queen. THIS is what Catching Jordan should have been.

D.J. Schwenk is fifteen, and she lives on her family's dairy farm in Red Bend, Wisconsin. D.J. has almost completely taken over all the work on the farm following an injury to her father. Her mother is working two jobs, her younger brother isn't talking, and her two older bothers, both college football stars, have stayed away despite the family's struggles. The last thing that D.J. wants is help in the form of spoiled, lazy quarterback Brian Nelson, who plays for rival Hawley. Brian's coach wants D.J. to teach him how to work, and when D.J. agrees to train him, she starts to think that maybe she should be the one trying out for the football team.Any summary of this book is insufficient, because there is so much going on in this novel. Each character is fully developed with his or her own story, and we experience it all through D.J.'s eyes as she struggles through this one amazing summer.D.J. is an awesome character and a great narrator. She's tough, and she's funny, and she's trying really hard to not think about all the things that are going wrong in her family. She doesn't whine about her circumstances, but it's clear that she's carrying far too many burdens for a girl just turning sixteen. Fortunately, D.J.'s toughness and work ethic carry her through, and her friendship with Brian Nelson changes everything for her, but not in the ways one would expect.Brian Nelson is one of my favorite boy YA characters ever, and if I had read this book as a teen, I would have been in love. Brian is not perfect; he does several lousy things in Dairy Queen, and since there are two more books, I'm sure he'll mess up again. At the start of the book he is lazy and spoiled, and he's not especially nice to D.J. or her family. But Brian is smart, and he's talented (if untrained), and his mother has turned him into a teenage boy that can actually talk about feelings and problems, which is completely foreign to D.J. D.J.'s family doesn't talk about anything, but Brian forces her to really look at her life, and he is likewise capable of learning and changing as a result of the time that he spends with D.J. Their friendship is a joy to read about, and makes the potential for romance between them that much more wonderful.What really makes this book awesome is that I could write ten more paragraphs about great parts of this book, be it the family relationships or the description of life in a small town or just D.J.'s unique view of the world. This book is about more than a girl who plays football, or two unlikely friends. It's about the most fully realized character that I've read this year, a fifteen-year-old on the brink of adulthood, with all the wonderful and terrible truths that come with it. This is absolutely not a book to miss!