YA Adventure, Mystery, Sports: DAIRY QUEEN by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Murdock. Catherine Gilbert. 2006. DAIRY QUEEN. Boston: Graphia. ISBN 0-618-86335-4

The Schwenks are a well known football family in the small Wisconsin town they live in, as well as dairy farmers. D.J. has spent countless hours watching and helping her brothers practice, train, and play, and this particular summer end up reluctantly becoming the trainer for the neighboring town rival’s quarterback, Brian. At the same time, she practically runs the family farm, as her two older brothers are away playing college football, her dad is sidelined with a hip injury, and her mother is juggling two jobs. Brian is sent to the Schwenk farm by his coach to learn the meaning of hard work, and along the way, he and D.J. become friends and a little more. As D.J. struggles to deal with her lot in life, as well as the unspoken issues and feeling of those around her, she decides to do the unexpected and join the high school football team, which touches off even more tension while also leading to healing and understanding.

Though it contains its fair share of football, the real focus of this story is the experience and relationships of the main character and how she faces a most challenging summer. Though light on intense action and adventure, readers are drawn into the story through a more subtle plot. Readers experience a fulfillment of accomplishment through hard work, determination, and charting controversial and new territory. The high levels of responsibility thrust upon D.J. launch her into a much more adult world than that of most fifteen and sixteen year olds as she achieves both physical and mental accomplishments. The setting is interesting in the fact that it takes place on a working farm, which is foreign to most teens today, but sheds light on reality for rural teen life. The cows play an important role as symbolism for D.J. view on the state of life for most and what she is trying to break away from. “Then I start thinking that maybe everyone in the whole world was just like a cow, and we all go along doing what we’re supposed to without complaining or even really noticing, until we die” (Murdock 116).

D.J. is a strong and likeable protagonist that readers can identify with, as she shows an array of emotion, trials, and experiences known to many.  Her character is fully developed in this story she tells from her point of view, and her tough and feisty nature contrasts that of stereotypical female characters. However, her softer side is seen as her relationship with Brian develops and she reaches out to individual family members in different ways, despite the amount of angst, disappointment, and confusion swirling around her. ““You Schwenks, you’re messed up. You might be good at football but you really suck at life. When you don’t talk, you know, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said”” (Murdock 225). “These characters are all flawed but likable. D.J., in her silence, has a lot of time to ponder who she is and what she wants” (Myrna Marler (KLIATT Review, July 2007). Strong person to person conflicts are constantly changing as the internal conflicts within D.J. are revealed.

The author uses a conversational style with varying tones to create an interesting, though slower paced story, which artfully balances sports as the background for the realities of a struggling family. “In a novel both funny and moving, the author tackles themes of love, friendship, family, gender, and athletics in a novel that strongly conveys a sense of life in a small Wisconsin town” (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007).This mix makes the book appealing to a wider audience, reaching out to sports enthusiasts as well as those looking for more drama and romance. The title and cover however, may deter those sports minded readers, as they give no hint of the football focus. 

Connections:

-        Background knowledge research with possible topics of dairy farming, football training, Wisconsin, rural small town life could be presented collaboratively using web 2.0 tools

-        Journaling with focus on family communication and interactions

Best Books:

Best Children's Books of the Year, 2007 ; Bank Street College of Education; Outstanding Merit; United States
Book Sense Children's Picks, Summer 2006 ; American Booksellers Association; Top 10; United States
Children's Pick of the List, 2006 ; NAIBA; United States
Choices, 2007 ; Cooperative Children’s Book Center; United States
Core Collection: Sports Fiction for Girls, 2007 ; Booklist; United States
Kirkus Best Children's Books, 2006 ; Kirkus; United States
Kirkus Book Review Stars, April 15, 2006 ; United States
Middle and Junior High School Library Catalog, Supplement to Ninth Edition, 2007 ; H.W. Wilson Company; United States
Publishers Weekly Book Review Stars, May 15, 2006 ; Cahners; United States
Senior High Core Collection, Seventeenth Edition, 2007 ; The H. W. Wilson Co.; United States
Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers, 2006 ; Voice of Youth Advocates; United States
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 2007 ; American Library Association; United States

Awards, Honors, Prizes:

Borders Original Voices Award, 2006 Winner Independent Reader/Young Adult United States
Buckeye Children's Book Award, 2008 2nd Place Teen Ohio
Cuffies: Children's Booksellers Choose Their Favorite (and not-so-favorite) Books of the Year, 2006 Winner Favorite Jacket United States
Great Lakes Great Books Award, 2007 Winner United States
Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award, 2008 Winner Young Adult Pennsylvania
Quill Awards, 2006 Nominee Young Adult/Teen United States
Thumbs Up! Award, 2007 Honor Book Michigan