34. Off Season - Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Sequel to Dairy Queen

read by Natalie Moore (brilliantly!

2007, Listening Library

5 unabridged cds

277 pgs.

Finished 8/28/30

YA CRF

Goodreads Rating:

My Rating:

Awesome (5) 

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Red Bend, Wisconsin

My comments:  This is the sequel to Dairy Queen, a book I finished very recently and loved.  I couldn't wait to read this one.  Same spectacular writing, same wonderful reading (Natalie Moore was just terrific). same intricate character development, same subtle, clever humor.  And such voice!  The story is a little sadder...I guess I should probably say bittersweet.... but quite remarkable.  I love the way Murdock digs into her characters and makes them feel so real.  As much as a "happy ending" is (always)anticipated, Murdock keeps it believable. Things don't always turn out the way you'd really like them to.  I love D.J. Schwenk! What a great girl!

Goodreads Review:  Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. She’s in eleventh grade, finally. After a rocky summer, she’s reconnecting in a big way with her best friend, Amber. She’s got kind of a thing going with Brian Nelson, who’s cute and popular and smart but seems to like her anyway. And then there’s the fact she’s starting for the Red Bend High School football team—the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. Which just shows you can’t predict the future. As autumn progresses, D.J. struggles to understand Amber, Schwenk Farm, her relationship with Brian, and most of all her family. As a whole herd of trouble comes her way, she discovers she’s a lot stronger than she—or anyone—ever thought.

   This hilarious, heartbreaking and triumphant sequel to the critically acclaimed Dairy Queen takes D.J. and all the Schwenks from Labor Day to a Thanksgiving football game that you will never forget.

32. Dairy Queen - Catherine Gilbert Murdock

1st book in a series of two

audio read by Natalie Moore

5 undabridged cds (6:09)

2006, Houghton Mifflin

275 pgs.

Finished 8/20/2013

Genre: YA CRF

Goodreads Rating: 3.77

My Rating: 4.5 - Loved it

Found the CD at a Friends of the Library book sale

My comments:  A delightful read - and I'm glad I listened to this one.  Beautifully read, wonderful story.  The protagonist - and other characters - seemed very real to me.  Who would have known that being raised on a Wisconsin cow farm would make such interesting reading?  I hope the library has the sequel on cd.....

Goodreads Review:  When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said. Harsh words indeed, from Brian Nelson of all people. But, D.J. can't help admitting, maybe he's right. When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said. Stuff like why her best friend, Amber, isn't so friendly anymore. Or why her little brother, Curtis, never opens his mouth. Why her mom has two jobs and a big secret. Why her college-football-star brothers won't even call home. Why her dad would go ballistic if she tried out for the high school football team herself. And why Brian is so, so out of her league. When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said. Welcome to the summer that fifteen-year-old D.J. Schwenk of Red Bend, Wisconsin, learns to talk, and ends up having an awful lot of stuff to say.