Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dairy Queen (Dairy Queen #1)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 12,220 ratings · 1,637 reviews

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...more

Hardcover, 275 pages

Published May 22nd 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (first published April 30th 2006)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Best Young Adult Realistic Novels

76th out of 748 books — 4,203 voters

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Best Young Adult Books

357th out of 8,274 books — 40,677 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 17, 2010 Kat Kennedy rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Young adults and people of the female variety

Recommended to Kat Kennedy by: Tatiana

Shelves: kat-s-book-reviews

*Kat picks up book*

"What the hell is wrong with the cover? What were they THINKING?

*Twenty pages in*

"I'm reading a book about a dumb hick milking cows? Great! What the hell was Tatiana thinking, recommending me this book!"

*Fifty pages in*

"Hmmm, it's kind of interesting I suppose. D.J. is funny and cute... Brian is alright."

*One hundred pages in*

"Oh! I wonder what will happen next! This is really sweet! I didn't realize American football is so interesting and exhilarating!"

*Two hundred pages in*

"...more

92 likes · like · see review

Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-na, chick-lit, 2012

When I finally found a spare two minutes to sit down and start reading this book, I suddenly ended up drawn in for a couple of hours discovering that Dairy Queen is just as ridiculously funny, silly, and heartwarming as everyone had told me it was. And strangely inspirational too - I love anyone who dares to break the mold, especially young females who challenge gender stereotypes and go their own way.

I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of chick lit novels, so I should warn you that this would probably never have got five stars from me, and the fact that it got four stars should not be taken lightly when I'm dishing it out in this genre. This book has all the elements you could want from a light-hearted, teen read: a funny, likeable and slightly snarky protagonist, cute boys, some family troubles - nothing too heavy, romance, friendships, insecurities and overcoming them... this stands out for me amongst others of its kind and I will give it the best compliment I can by saying that if you're a fan of Louise Rennison, E. Lockhart and/or Stephanie Perkins, I can see no reason why you wouldn't love this.

D.J. Shwenk is a great character. You know why I think she is such a great character? Because she does sport and farming - two things that interest me about as much as Kim Kardashian's "novel" - and yet she still manages to keep my attention from the very first chapter. It takes A LOT to literally make someone laugh out loud while reading, as in, to actually pause and giggle stupidly to oneself and think if Big Brother was watching right now I would be arrested and locked away forever (am I paranoid? are these weird thoughts?). Anyway, this novel does this repeatedly and I'm glad I didn't read it in public.

I put this book off for two reasons, 1) I never thought I would enjoy a book about either sport or farming, never mind both! And 2) I've been busy reading the dark, disturbing, depressing, supernatural and fantasy books, which is all very well but sometimes we need a little bright happiness from our novels. This delivers, trust me, this delivers.
(less)

27 likes · like · see review

Aug 10, 2011 Maja rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Maja by: Lisa O.

Shelves: ya, contemporary-fiction, favorites, all-the-right-choices, reviewed-in-2011

I never thought I’d have fun reading about a belching contest of all things, but that’s exactly what happened. Murdock’s Dairy Queen is just the kind of YA I can truly enjoy: loads of fun on the surface, yet if you remember to look a little deeper, for the most part it’s not funny at all.

I noticed a long time ago that authors often have problems with creating characters that are quite average. On one side, most of them don’t even want to because they’re convinced that nobody likes to read about...more I never thought I’d have fun reading about a belching contest of all things, but that’s exactly what happened. Murdock’s Dairy Queen is just the kind of YA I can truly enjoy: loads of fun on the surface, yet if you remember to look a little deeper, for the most part it’s not funny at all.

I noticed a long time ago that authors often have problems with creating characters that are quite average. On one side, most of them don’t even want to because they’re convinced that nobody likes to read about average people. On the other, even when they try, they usually don’t know how. Sometimes you can just see that’s what the author intended to do, especially in YA, but the characters end up being either too smart or too stupid to live, thus remaining completely unrealistic and two-dimensional. That is not the case with Catherine Murdock. In my opinion, she was successful. D.J. always does the right thing for herself, but that doesn’t mean that she’s too smart. She’s not very pretty or very social, either. But Murdock knows how to make you care for her and see her in a completely different light. The thing I liked most about D.J. is that she never once made me feel frustrated or angry because I always knew that she was doing her best, even when it wasn’t enough.

Stylistically speaking, at first glance, the writing was a little strange. I was bothered by it at first, but then I started discovering things about D.J. and I realized that it needed to be adapted to the narrator. D.J. flunked her English class because she was too busy working on the family farm. All those awkward sentences (kind of like mine, but worse) and words that kept repeating again and again made things sound more authentic. In other words, once I realized that Murdock did it on purpose, and it DID take me a while, I liked it.

Phew. Let me tell you, flirting is never easy, but having any sort of romantic conversation while shoveling cow poop is next to impossible. And yet D.J. and Brian managed to do it, and it was awkward, adorable and everything else it was supposed to be. I loved the two of them together and I loved that the focus wasn't on the romance at all.

I can’t wait to read the next two books!
(less)

23 likes · like · see review

Jun 28, 2011 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-summer-challange-2011, young-adult, not-mine-library, favorites

Dairy Queen has got to be the best book hidden behind the worst cover/title ever. This isn’t a book I would have given a second glance at if it weren’t for so many Goodreads friends raving over it. Even looking past the cover, the synopsis here doesn’t sound great. One special summer in which our young protagonist, D.J. Schwenk spends time with a guy who is “out of her league”, figures out some family issues and goes out for the boys football team? This has the potential to be quirky in an oh-so...more Dairy Queen has got to be the best book hidden behind the worst cover/title ever. This isn’t a book I would have given a second glance at if it weren’t for so many Goodreads friends raving over it. Even looking past the cover, the synopsis here doesn’t sound great. One special summer in which our young protagonist, D.J. Schwenk spends time with a guy who is “out of her league”, figures out some family issues and goes out for the boys football team? This has the potential to be quirky in an oh-so-annoying way. But it isn’t. Not at all. And I am kicking myself for not reading this book sooner than now.

To start with, D.J. is refreshing and a pleasure to read about. Author Catherine Gilbert Murdock writes D.J. in the Sookie Stackhouse style. That is, she just happily rambles about her day, her thoughts and feelings on just about everything in such a friendly, conversational manner that before you know it you are completely hooked. Unlike Sookie though, D.J. is figuring out her purpose and goals in life. Also, this series will not be more than a trilogy, so we know her blathering will have a point and eventually lead us to (hopefully!) a satisfying conclusion. D.J. is every bit the tomboy who lives and works on a dairy farm, is athletic, and much like any boy, is very uncomfortable experiencing and expressing emotions. We get to meet her family who are just as tough, strong, sensitive and emotionally unenlightened as D.J. is. Of course YA covers are misleading, but I still think it’s odd for this book to have such a weird, whimsical cover when there really isn’t anything weird or whimsical about D.J.

Dairy Queen is simply one of those books which gets so many things right, it’s hard to articulate what makes it so special. I love that D.J. follows her desires not in an effort to prove a point, or impress someone or rebel. She merely attempts to figure out what she wants in life and endeavors to follow her dreams. There is a great message in this novel of being true to yourself.

And did I mention this book is also about football? Lots and lots of football (oh yeah!) Murdock does a fantastic job of describing the sport, but it’s clear that she really isn’t a fan when she mentions D.J.’s old brother/football hero Bill attending Minnesota. Yeah, it’s cool he’s playing for a NCAA team and all, but really Minnesota?? Just about the worst team in the Big Ten. I could understand if the book was based in Minnesota, or Murdock had special ties to that school (who knows, maybe she does?) But Dairy Queen takes place in Wisconsin, which has a perfectly respectable state university and football team of their own. A team that is so good, I always have a tight knot of anxiety in my stomach when my beloved Buckeyes play them. Ah, well.

Besides being proud of her brother for attending Minnesota (because for fucks sake, they are terrible!) Dairy Queen is a flawless and enjoyable book. It is definitely one I recommend, even for people who are not football fans. Really, the sports stuff isn’t so overwhelming for those of you who just aren’t into it. For the rest of us, it’s got just enough to make you count down the days till kickoff. That is, if you aren’t already =)

UPDATE: This series rocks! Just finished the final installment,
Front and Center and loved it. Going back to rate each book in this trilogy 5 stars (8/22/11)(less)

22 likes · like · see review

Aug 13, 2011 Lisa O. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-lit, favorites

....why couldn't Murdock just continue to write YA instead of delving into middle grade? Sorry, Ms. Murdock, I am not saying Wisdom's Kiss was bad but this is SO much better. Actually it was pretty great, as soon as I finished it I went online to order the other two books in the series.

All because of DJ.
DJ Schwenk is no Barbie doll. She is tall, big, strong and runs her family's farm. Despite being in high school, she is overwhelmed by the daily chores required for the normal upkeep of a farm,...more ....why couldn't Murdock just continue to write YA instead of delving into middle grade? Sorry, Ms. Murdock, I am not saying Wisdom's Kiss was bad but this is SO much better. Actually it was pretty great, as soon as I finished it I went online to order the other two books in the series.

All because of DJ.
DJ Schwenk is no Barbie doll. She is tall, big, strong and runs her family's farm. Despite being in high school, she is overwhelmed by the daily chores required for the normal upkeep of a farm, a burden she acquired after her father injured himself and is therefore unable to do hard work. Aside from being farmers, the Schwenks are also good at playing football and DJ is no exception. So when Brian Nelson, the quarterback of a rival school is coerced by his coach to show up at her doorstep looking for training and to help with the farm, DJ cannot but accept, hoping to teach the guy a lesson. But, as it turns out, it will be DJ to learn more than she bargained for out of this lesson, about herself, her family and the importance of communication.

So after a brief surfing interlude with Raw Blue, here goes another typical Italian national sport, football.
NOT. Football is, in Italy, just about as widespread as Mountain Dew and Starbucks (yes, you can start pitying now, we have none of those here). Consequently, my knowledge of either slang or rules related to this game is... close to zero, I'd say (I only know names of players that the Kardashians have dated so... pretty many actually).
BUT, in Dairy Queen, it didn't matter. To be honest, I have to confess that my interest got piqued and I am developing a certain attraction towards the game. But again, I think it might be all because of DJ. This book is so good primarily for its main character.
Written in first person, DJ is a truly amazing voice in the ranks of YA heroines. She is neither beautiful nor particularly brilliant but she is so honest, authentic and just.... genuine that it was impossible for me not to sympathize with her and with her predicaments. And cheer for her all the way. I mean, this girl plays football, how cool is that?

And while I would define this as a great, fresh and fast summer read (I read it at the beach and I have to say the cow cover perfectly matched with the surroundings), it is far, far from shallow. DJ's dysfunctional family and friends guide us through the rules of personal communication, familiar love and friendship beyond social strata, giving it a depth hidden behind the simple, yet clever tone and writing style.

I really enjoyed it, it pleasantly surprised me and I'm looking forward to knowing what happens to DJ next! Definitely recommended.(less)

16 likes · like · see review

Jan 10, 2011 Flannery rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks, kcls, read-in-2011, young-adult-teen, reviewed-2011, wishlist-for-dtbs-to-keep

DJ Schwenk is a teenage girl growing up on a dairy farm in rural Wisconsin. Her family suffers from a lack of communication and the departure of her two older brothers, along with her father's hip surgery, have put even more strain on DJ. Her workload at school is overwhelming when she adds in all the work she has to do to keep the family farm running. Dairy Queen chronicles a few weeks of her summer vacation...if you can call it a vacation.

If you have to listen to professors talk about stuff l...more

16 likes · like · see review

Jun 07, 2010 Tatiana rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those looking for a light realistic YA story

Recommended to Tatiana by: ala

Shelves: ala-ya-2007, 2010, ya, chick-lit

After being burned MANY times by crap YA books, I made a decision to only read those that at some point earned critical recognition (if I judged books by GR reviewer's ratings, I suspect I would have to work my way through nonsense like Hush, Hush, Evermore, and The Luxe and I am not sure I am up for it any more). Dairy Queen made it to ALA's list of best YA books in 2007, so I decided to give it a try in spite of the awful cover and title. I was not disappointed.

15-year-old D.J. is forced to ta...more

38 likes · like · see review

Nov 09, 2012 Keertana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If Dairy Queen taught me anything, it was, first and foremost, that I am a horrible read-along buddy. Seriously. I was only supposed to read five chapters of this today and I wound up reading all twelve chapters until the end, reading in the hallways, through classes, and on the bus ride back home. Needless to say, it was a little hard for me to put this book down after a point and even now, I can't get it out of my head. Dairy Queen is everything you wish for in a contemporary novel and so much...more

10 likes · like · see review

May 07, 2013 Ceecee rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all young adults, and adults young at heart

Recommended to Ceecee by: people who were surprised they liked this book

Shelves: breath-of-fresh-air, slice-of-life, 5-star, favorites, love-to-reread, coming-of-age, books-i-own, fictional-boyfriends, adorable-couples, great-endings

May 2013 This book is as lovely as I remember. I feel goooood.

Sept.2012When you read about people loving a book, it's hard not to expect to like it. I've read so many books which people gushed over, but when I read it, I was like, meh. Thankfully, Dairy Queen did not disappoint. What a lucky day to have found this on a dark corner of a bookstore. I was never so entertained as much lately, nor did I read a book more quickly. It just made me feel good. I'm sorry it had to end so soon.

DJ Schwenk,...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 26, 2008 Kristi (The Story Siren) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

I had heard nothing but good reviews for this book, so I went in expecting a lot and I wasn’t disappointed. Besides I am a little bit of a farm girl myself, so I totally related to D.J. I could barely read about bailing and unloading hay without my skin itching!! The only time I was truly happy to get up before four in the morning was to feed my cute little feeder calf, and the fact that I could go back to sleep afterward helped too.

Dairy Queen is the story of D.J. Schwenk. And let me tell you t...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 30, 2012 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, lol-funny, young-adult, favorites

When I picked up Dairy Queen, I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did because of the awful title (this book has nothing to do with the ice cream chain), ugly cover of a cow with a crown (the international paperback cover is much better), and a synopsis that doesn't capture the heart of the book. D.J.'s relationship with Brian Nelson, and her trying out for the football team despite being a girl both play a major role in this story but you wouldn't know it from reading the blurb on the bac...more When I picked up Dairy Queen, I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did because of the awful title (this book has nothing to do with the ice cream chain), ugly cover of a cow with a crown (the international paperback cover is much better), and a synopsis that doesn't capture the heart of the book. D.J.'s relationship with Brian Nelson, and her trying out for the football team despite being a girl both play a major role in this story but you wouldn't know it from reading the blurb on the back. Football is only mentioned twice and only once in relation to D.J. even though it's a major component of her journey towards self-discovery. Although I'm not the biggest football fan, I do tend to enjoy stories about female empowerment in male dominated worlds, and this is certainly one of them. (view spoiler)

The main reason I fell in love with this book was D.J. and her unique narrative voice. She's resilient, tough, and responsible, but like many teenagers she also struggles with issues of self-confidence and self-identity. I found her to be highly relatable despite the fact that I've never struggled with lack of communication or being shouldered with too much responsibility. This is not a book with cardboard cutout, two-dimensional characters. Everyone had their admirable qualities and their flaws. The relationship between D.J. and her family was particularly well written, as was her relationship with Brian Nelson. The two of them had amazing chemistry, and the issues they faced seemed very real. Murdock does a great job of both creating and developing her characters and the relationships between them.

Even though football and farming, two subjects I've never been interested in, are featured quite a bit, I still enjoyed this book. In fact, Murdock was able to take these unappealing subjects and make them interesting. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who likes YA fiction.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 17, 2009 oliviasbooks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, stays-with-me, young-adult-fiction, love-story-romance, ya-contemporary, to-re-read, hug-them-lick-them-favorites

Heart- and gut-wrenchingly good. I just ordered the sequel although still have 14 new books waiting to be read. The plot: Tomboy D.J. Schwenks is 15 going on 16, lives on a dairy farm and does almost all the hard work. In fact she is even flunking grades in order to get the barn clean and the cows milked and fed. Her father has an injured hip, started doing housework instead of farm work and just loves to complain about his daughter's working style. D.J.'s real passion is American football, but...more

6 likes · like · see review

Sep 15, 2008 CLM rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, 21st-century, sports, series

I really enjoyed this YA novel set on a Wisconsin dairy farm about a girl who had to drop off her high school basketball team to milk and care for the family's herd when her father needs a hip replacement. Already shy and unsure of herself, DJ begins to recognize her family never talks about anything that matters, and in fact, barely speaks at all. A particularly taboo topic is her two star college football player brothers who have not been home since Christmas.

When DJ is asked to train Brian, t...more

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 16, 2011 Vinaya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Vinaya by: Maja

Shelves: books-i-loved, favorites, hmm-that-was-interesting, speshul-snowflake, surprised-me, ya-fiction

Back in the good old days when Net Galley was a bountiful god instead of the clutch-fisted miser it is becoming, I used to go wild requesting every galley I could find. One of the books I requested was a novel about a girl who plays baseball on a boy's team. I never did read more than fifty pages of that one - it was pretty dry, but it did make me a little apprehensive about reading sports-related stories. Which is weird because I LOVE sports-related movies. I couldn't tell you the rules of Amer...more Back in the good old days when Net Galley was a bountiful god instead of the clutch-fisted miser it is becoming, I used to go wild requesting every galley I could find. One of the books I requested was a novel about a girl who plays baseball on a boy's team. I never did read more than fifty pages of that one - it was pretty dry, but it did make me a little apprehensive about reading sports-related stories. Which is weird because I LOVE sports-related movies. I couldn't tell you the rules of American football if you held a gun to my head, but something about the intensity and excitement with which a bunch of men toss a ball around just gets me all happy. So it's pretty amazing that Catherine Gilbert Murdock managed to induce the same excitement in me without visual aids and eye candy.

There are just so many reasons to love Dairy Queen. I could go on and on all night and still not capture the magic of D.J. Schwenk. But I'm sure as hell gonna try.

The Schwenks are not what you'd call a talkative family. They're hardworking and "athletically gifted", but verbosity is not one of their talents. There's a lot of currents flowing under the still water, but it's not until Brian Nelson swaggers into DJ's life that she really begins to think about where her life is going.

That summary might give you the impression that luuurve changes our heroine like a butterfly from a chrysalis, or whatever, but that's not how it goes. What really, really works for Dairy Queen is how unbelievably real it is. DJ has a very distinctive voice. She's a hick, through and through, and it comes through very clearly in her words and her attitudes. But she's smart and more interestingly, she's introspective. I love introspective heroines... I don't mean the ones who angst endlessly without ever growing up, but the ones who use the incidents in their life to grow and develop as a person. Nobody does this better than DJ Schwenk. She handles her hard life (and it is HARD, believe me!) with grace and panache.

Every character in this book could be someone you meet on the street. Who says Everyman can't be interesting. Murdock takes the concept of perfectly ordinary people leading perfectly ordinary lives and makes you beg for more. And if that's not talent, I don't know what is. The characters in this story are flawed, amazing and interesting, simply for being so relatable.

There's Brian - he could have turned out to be a cardboard-cutout handsome jock, but there's more to him than that. There's the nasty, snobby, spoiled side, with the whining and the unwillingness to take responsibility. And there's the admirable, friendly side, with the willingness to apologize and the slowly developing friendship with a girl from a rival school who's not the most attractive, amazing girl on earth.

The same applies to DJ's father, the cause of so much turmoil in her life, her almost mute brother, her ultra-busy mother, the brothers who abandoned her, her mixed-up best friend. With a few anecdotes here and there, Murdock manages to make these people come alive in all their flawlessly flawed glory.

And at the heart of it all is DJ Schwenk. Big and bold and beautiful, even when she barely realizes it, so very ordinary, and yet extraordinary in her sweetness and her thoughtfulness and her ability and desire to change and think outside the box. DJ is a heroine that I might henceforth measure all heroines by - take that, you nasty size zero princesses!

As DJ says herself, although the book might be about football, football is just a metaphor for all the things that change over the course of one summer. And yet, I can't deny that I thoroughly, in a very pop-movie way, enjoyed the thrashing Red Bend gives Hawley under DJ's direction. The scenes are tightly paced and excitingly written and I felt like I was SO ready to go out there and wear a foam finger and cheer my heart out for this little high school football team.

I've already made my way through the second book in the series, and I gotta tell you, it only gets better. This is coming-of-age like no coming-of-age before, romance like no romance before, family drama like no family drama before. If you haven't read this book, I would wholeheartedly recommend that you go get it right this minute, because every second you waste thinking about it is a precious second you could be spending getting to know the one, the only, DJ Schwenk!(less)

23 likes · like · see review

Feb 12, 2009 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have a new appreciation for football reading this book.
I've found football sorta sexist... I mean, have you EVER seen a woman in the NFL? Exactly. Its like, one of the only sports that there's really not a Woman's league. I mean, all women can do in this sport is cheer the men on from the sidelines in little outfits and pom-poms... I'm sorry, but that's just sad...
I seriously think they need a Woman's League and on the guys cheer on the girls with pom-poms and their shirts off... I mean, COME...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 24, 2009 Jaemi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction

I read this book while on vacation in Vermont, which seemed really appropriate, even if the book was set in Wisconsin.

D.J., at 15, doesn’t have the world’s most pleasant life. Her two older brother’s have left the house, after a fight with their dad, and dad’s got a bum leg, so it’s up to D.J. to run the farm. She gets occasional help from her younger brother, but he’s big into sports, which come first. And just when she thinks it can’t get any worse, the rival football team QB shows up in her d...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 06, 2012 Lottie Eve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Why didn't I read this sooner? Dairy Queen is definitely one of the best contemporary books I have ever read. Although Dairy Queen does not get into deep issues it is still thought-provoking in its own way. Plus, there is a farm and a lot of cows in this book. I like that.

The characters are all true to life characters. They are realistic, relatable, and very loveable. D.J.(I admire her so much) is a very well made character. Although she is unsure of herself at times she is very determined to do...more Why didn't I read this sooner? Dairy Queen is definitely one of the best contemporary books I have ever read. Although Dairy Queen does not get into deep issues it is still thought-provoking in its own way. Plus, there is a farm and a lot of cows in this book. I like that.

The characters are all true to life characters. They are realistic, relatable, and very loveable. D.J.(I admire her so much) is a very well made character. Although she is unsure of herself at times she is very determined to do what she wants to do. D.J. was also a very hardworking character which made me love her even more. I loved her as a narrative as she was funny, serious, and true to herself. D.J. was also very kick butt. Brian was also a very fun to read about character. He had his own set of flaws to but his good qualities balance that out. I found him very crush worthy. I loved seeing D.J. and Brian grow as characters and loved them both very much. The rest of the characters are not to be overlooked. Even though they had only a short time on the pages of the book I was still able to like and care for them. I especially loved how D.J.'s family grew as characters to as we do not really get to see much family in the Young Adult genre. Simply put, the characters in Dairy Queen are marvelous.

The story of Dairy Queen is a very fun story. In the first half of Dairy Queen we are introduced to D.J.'s life on the farm and around the cows. We read about D.J. training Brian over the summer and developing relationship. Reading about their growing friendship was a very peaceful but fun experience. The second half where all the sports and action happens is where it gets the most exciting. I was never a fan of football but Dairy Queen has shown me how great, hard, and exhilarating it really was. I loved reading about D.J. on the football field kicking the opposing team's butts. I sometimes found myself about to open my mouth and cheer on D.J. but than close it as I was around people(I do not think I would look very normal talking to a book).

Murdock is able to write D.J.'s voice and emotions so very well. The scenes when D.J. was on the field were very vivid and detailed. I could imagine myself as a player on the field running right next to D.J. I loved Murdock's good humoured but also serious writing.

Dairy Queen is a very fun, cuddly, and exciting read. I really need the next book. Now.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

May 30, 2012 TG rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Like the Jessica Darling series and the Ruby Oliver series, a simple description of Dairy Queen doesn't make it sound like anything special: It's just the story of a teen girl, trying to grow up and deal with family and friends and boys. What makes these books special is the refreshingly authentic character voice they are each written in. D. J. Schwenk is another heroine who won me over immediately. D. J.'s atypical of most YA heroines - she's not real book smart and she doesn't know fancy words...more Like the Jessica Darling series and the Ruby Oliver series, a simple description of Dairy Queen doesn't make it sound like anything special: It's just the story of a teen girl, trying to grow up and deal with family and friends and boys. What makes these books special is the refreshingly authentic character voice they are each written in. D. J. Schwenk is another heroine who won me over immediately. D. J.'s atypical of most YA heroines - she's not real book smart and she doesn't know fancy words or use poetic turns-of-phrase, but her plain-speaking style never seems flat; it's honest, charming and extremely witty in its own way. Example:

"If there ever was a TV show called People Who Are Crazy and Need to Have Their Heads Examined, I'd be the very first guest. They'd put me on one of those couches and a guy with a beard and funny accent would ask me questions, and the audience would ooh and aah as they realized this girl was crazy. What else would explain what I had just done?"

I love D. J. lots and lots. She's so self-deprecating and down-to-earth, not to mention hard-working - she's running her family's farm almost single-handed and just reading about the 5am starts and the heavy lifting made me shudder. In addition to that, D. J.'s helping to train rich kid Brian Nelson for the next season of football, when she really wishes she could be the one playing. D. J.'s basically doing everything for everybody else and nothing for herself.

The defining things in D. J.'s world - American football and farming - don't interest me one iota, but they don't have to. D. J.'s family revolves around football; her father used to play, her brothers play and she wants to play, but it's like Friday Night Lights, where you don't have to care about the game, only care about the characters and what happens to them. I was really impressed by the way Catherine Gilbert Murdock takes a cute coming-of-age tale and weaves in deeper themes. As you can probably tell from the synopsis, communication is the key one and pretty much all the conflict in the story comes from the characters not saying what's on their minds. So Dairy Queen is not really a story about how much D. J. wants football, but how she learns to express what it is she wants.

There's also some interesting exploration of gender roles, too. I almost teared up at the moment when it becomes apparent that even the adults are hopelessly trapped by gender expectations and don't feel free to be themselves.

And D. J. and Brian! They have shot up the list of my favourite YA couples ever. They're friends, they're equals and they 'get' each other. I ordered the next book straightaway because I have to know what happens between them.

I hope I'm selling Dairy Queen. I don't know how to get across everything that it is: funny, serious, light, deep, sad, uplifting, romantic, family-orientated...one of YA's great heroines, a unique writing style and a book you really must read now.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 19, 2011 Watermelon Daisy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This book is one of the few which started off with such a slow speed, and the narrator telling us everything, that I felt ready to give it up.

Boy oh boy would I regret it! The starting is so painfully slow that I’m ready to bang my head on a brick wall. And to top it all off, the narrator tells us so much at the start that I feel like I’m having a brain overload. But this is now one of my favourites books in the world.

Lemme explain why. It’s very rare that we get those awkward moments into our...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 04, 2013 Annabel ♥ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: four-stars, idea-is-genius, inspiring, review, no-shit-heroines, why-didn-t-i-read-this-earlier, half-stars, library

Sixteen year old DJ Schwenk's life is far from perfect. Her college football-star brothers haven't talked to her in months, her younger brother never talks, her dad has hip problems, her mom works a lot, she flunked Sophomore English, and she's stuck doing ten thousand daily chores on her family's farm. Sounds fun, right? Well, everything changes when Brian Nelson, comes to work at the farm. DJ has never been the type of girl that guys swoon over, nor has she been the type to swoon over guys. Bu...more Sixteen year old DJ Schwenk's life is far from perfect. Her college football-star brothers haven't talked to her in months, her younger brother never talks, her dad has hip problems, her mom works a lot, she flunked Sophomore English, and she's stuck doing ten thousand daily chores on her family's farm. Sounds fun, right? Well, everything changes when Brian Nelson, comes to work at the farm. DJ has never been the type of girl that guys swoon over, nor has she been the type to swoon over guys. But this terrible, long, wonderful summer, she falls in Love.

I really liked this book. I came away feeling happy. First of all let me make one thing clear: My favorite character was the dog. Smut, her name is. I have no idea why but she was just my favorite character even though she was barely mentioned. I just thought I'd mention that. :p Anyway, now that's out of the way. I really liked DJ too. She wasn't beautiful or perfect or boy-obsessed (Well, not really...) like all the other book heroines I read about. She was so much different, and I liked her for that. She worked really hard and made me realize that I was probably the most spoiled person ever when I loudly complained to my mom that I really, really didn't want to empty the dishwasher, thank you very much. And she changed SO MUCH throughout the novel, it was fantastic. At the end she started to get kind of arrogant, which bothered me a teensy bit, but no characters in books can be 100% perfect right? So I managed to overlook this and I ended up really liking her as a character.

I've never been a fan of football. Like, my brothers would get really excited about a football game, and I'd just kind of sit there not really interested in it. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of watching and playing sports. But something about football has always seemed kind of boring to me. But now that I've read this book, I have whole different views on football. Instead of impatiently waiting for all the football talk to be finished, I clued in and I found that the parts where DJ talked about football were my favorite parts. So now I must declare that I will go watch football, or heck even PLAY football when my brothers do. (I say proudly.)

This book gave me a lot to think about. It wasn't fantasy; It was definitely something that could happen in real life. Since I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction these days, it was nice to be able to actually compare your life to someone else and reflect on what the character learned and if you too could learn from this. Which sounds totally weird, I know. But I'm holding strong to that point because it really is more important. Anyway, I learned a LOT from this book. Even though it was more of a light read and I pretty much finished it in a day, it taught some lessons that you'll have to find out about by reading the book.

So should you buy Dairy Queen, or borrow it from the library? Yes! Go now! (less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 14, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 16-chick-lit, 0-faves, 27-contemporary-ya

I’ve been home sick for two days the other week and during that time I read all three books of this series back to back and whenever I’m doing something like this I find it hard to come up a with a review for each single book since everything kind of blurs together and I’m having trouble distinguishing the different books in my head, so I’m just going to do one review for all three books and keep it general.

D.J. is one of those protagonists you just gotta love! She’s so likeable and easy to rela...more

11 likes · like · see review

Mar 28, 2011 Chachic rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally posted here.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is a book that comes highly recommended by my friend Michelle of See Michelle Read. I've been reading one fantasy novel after another the past few days so I decided to pick up a contemporary one for some variety. I've wanted to read this for some time but it wasn't available in the major bookstores here in the metro. Good thing I was able to grab a copy from Book Sale, a used bookstore, for just P20 (less than half a US dollar).

D.J....more Originally posted here.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is a book that comes highly recommended by my friend Michelle of See Michelle Read. I've been reading one fantasy novel after another the past few days so I decided to pick up a contemporary one for some variety. I've wanted to read this for some time but it wasn't available in the major bookstores here in the metro. Good thing I was able to grab a copy from Book Sale, a used bookstore, for just P20 (less than half a US dollar).

D.J. Schwenk is a teenage girl born and raised in a farm. Because her dad got injured and her brothers are too busy with their college lives to come home, D.J. is in charge of all the farm work this summer. She only has her younger brother Curtis to help her out and he seldom does that because he's busy with baseball. Sure, she could use an extra hand but she doesn't want it from Brian Nelson, the snotty quarterback from her school's rival, Hawley. It goes against her principles because her family is big on the local football scene and besides, she just doesn't like the guy. She decides to give in when she talks to Brian's coach, who's like an uncle to her, and realizes that helping out with farm work is part of Brian's training to become a better football player. I know next to nothing about both farming and football. Farming here in the Philippines means rice fields and carabaos instead of cows. Also, football is a sport that never became popular here. Even though I was clueless about the two most important aspects of D.J.'s life, I never got confused reading her story because she manages to make farming and football interesting.

Dairy Queen is a coming-of-age of age tale that talks about the usual issues any teenage girl deals with - friendships, attraction, relationships, family problems and a whole lot of other stuff. In D.J.'s case, her family has always dealt with problems by not talking about it. So D.J. isn't much of a talker. Whenever she feels like complaining about doing all of the work in their farm, she just swallows her words because that's what they do in their household. Brian changes that because by spending time with him, D.J. realizes that it can be easy and therapeutic and yes, even fun, to talk about her feelings. I enjoyed reading about D.J. as she forms her own realizations about people - I liked how she compared everyone to cows because from what she's observed, people tend to just do what's expected of them. While I didn't fall in love with this contemporary YA novel, it's something that I'd recommend to fans of the subgenre because I've always liked sporty teenage girls, maybe because I envy them and I want to be like them. I also liked where this one ended so I might not pick up the sequels unless I find bargain copies.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 20, 2008 Alexa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Cecilia DeMarco, Paige Haefer

Recommended to Alexa by: my mom

Fifteen-year-old D.J. Schwenk wants more than anything not to be a cow. Cows just "go along doing what they're supposed to do without complaining or even really noticing, until they die." And if anyone should know about cows, it's D.J. Schwenk. D.J. has pretty much been running her family's Wisconsin farm for the past six months. Her father has a back injury, her mother works full-time as a teacher/temporary principal, her two older brothers are away playing football at college, and her younger...more Fifteen-year-old D.J. Schwenk wants more than anything not to be a cow. Cows just "go along doing what they're supposed to do without complaining or even really noticing, until they die." And if anyone should know about cows, it's D.J. Schwenk. D.J. has pretty much been running her family's Wisconsin farm for the past six months. Her father has a back injury, her mother works full-time as a teacher/temporary principal, her two older brothers are away playing football at college, and her younger brother Curtis is too young and mute to take control. There's no one else to run the farm but D.J. So, despite the fact that she's a high school girl, D.J. finds herself spreading manure, bailing hay, and milking cows daily. At the start of summer, she gets an unexpected helper. Jimmy Ott, an old friend of the family who also happens to coach the neighboring town's football team, sends over Brian Nelson, his team's quarterback, to assist the Schwenks. Now, the Schwenk family is good at two things in the world:
farming and football. D.J.'s older brothers, Win and Bill, were the stars of Red Bend's teams. Her father used to coach and names all his cows after football players and managers. Brian Nelson is "the very worst that a lazy, stuck-up, spoiled Hawley quarterback could be." Despite the fact that D.J. desperately needs help on the farm, she's not sure if she's so desperate as to want his help. And then, Coach Jimmy Ott has an even crazier idea. Since D.J. knows so much about football herself, maybe she could be Brian's summer trainer. Although Brian and D.J. both find the idea insane at first, they agree to try it out. D.J. and Brian have a very heated relationship. What starts out as annoyance with one another turns into friendship. Talking to Brian makes D.J. see things about herself and her family that she never realized before. Brian comments how D.J. doesn't say too much and keeps her thoughts and feelings locked inside. D.J. realizes that her entire family is like this. Her brother Curtis is so mute that the teachers at school keep giving him tests to make sure he's not disabled. And her parents had a huge fight with her brothers and haven't talked to them for months. (Or so she thinks.) Talking to Brian makes D.J. vow not to be a cow. She's tired of keeping the true D.J. locked up. And what does the true D.J. want to do? In true Schwenk nature, of course, she wants to play football on her high school team. Little does she realize the ruckus that will ensue when she follows her heart.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 22, 2007 Eli rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Dairy Queen - a chick book? jock book? chock book.

In my quest to read as much as possible over my extended break, this is book one. As this is my first day off, I'm doing pretty well. At this rate, I can read 240 books by August 14th.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is the story of DJ Schwenk, a small town farm girl. I'm not sure if this is a book for girls or a book for boys, so I guess that makes it a book for everyone.

It is the kind of book that I love because it is a well-written st...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 26, 2008 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Just about anybody. Not just for YA readers.

I absolutely loved this book. DJ is a completely unique, strong, vulnerable character with a distinct voice. The secondary characters, particularly her brother and her father, are so well done. I thought the book was going to be about football--kind of an "issue" book, but it was really about family, and about DJ learning to value who she is.

Recently I've met a lot of booksellers and librarians, and whenever I bring up this book we have a love fest talking about it. Just about my favorite book f...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 15, 2008 Anna Motteler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I freaking loved this book.
When I first heard about it, I kinda shyed away from it, because it dealt with football. Don't get me wrong, I love the Steelers, but football isn't my favorite subject, especially to read about.

But I loved this book.
I love the way D.J. is just a random girl, a farm girl for that matter, that decides to try out for the boys football team, and is amazing at it. I love how I learned a lot about football & farming from this book.

It's a great read.
It should be awarded.

1 like · like · see review

Mar 24, 2009 Denae rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1st-person-narrative

I wasn't sure if I'd like it. I don't usually, when there'sn't a 'bad guy' to defeat.
Loved the ending, mostly. (Great begginning, too, for that matter). Not too perfect, but resolved everything nicely. I thought Brian went from "jerk" to "nice" a little fast, but that was all right. I also liked how DJ didn't over explain things, only mentioning them when it was necessary. She also didn't spend too much time complaining or wallowing in self-pity. Oh, she spent her own time at it, but not writing...more

like · see review

Mar 13, 2009 Karin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-abe-lincoln-nominee, audio-edition, gutsy-girls, high-school, football, families, friendship, realistic, relationship-problems, relationships, romantic, quirky, young-adult-fiction, tomboys, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. D.J. Schewnk has the most unusual and transformative time of her life the summer she decides to train Brian Nelson. Although she’s only a teenager, D.J. has worked and played and trained hard with her two older brothers – champion football players in their own right – and Brian really comes to respect her methods and value her friendship. Brian and D.J. are about as different as two people can be. Brian comes from a family that talks about all of their problems and D.J.’s family never talks abou...more D.J. Schewnk has the most unusual and transformative time of her life the summer she decides to train Brian Nelson. Although she’s only a teenager, D.J. has worked and played and trained hard with her two older brothers – champion football players in their own right – and Brian really comes to respect her methods and value her friendship. Brian and D.J. are about as different as two people can be. Brian comes from a family that talks about all of their problems and D.J.’s family never talks about anything; Brian’s family is rich, D.J.’s family is poor; D.J. lives on a farm, Brian lives in town. Strangely, it’s Brian who gets D.J. to open up her mouth and start thinking about her life. And he becomes the impetus for her changing everything she doesn’t like.

D.J.’s had it pretty hard this last year. After her father injures himself, D.J. is responsible for running their farm, and going to school. She doesn’t have any time for herself or to think about what she wants. After talking to Brian, D.J. realizes that she can make a difference in her life by doing something she loves – playing football – and she decides to go out for the boys’ team at her high school. Unfortunately, that means she’s going to be playing against Brian – something she doesn’t even consider when she’s happily making her plans. And really? She meant to tell him, it’s just that the opportunity never arose.

Once Brian does find out, he’s furious. And then D.J.’s furious. But they’re both hurting and miss the friendship they once shared. It all comes down to a pre-season game between their two schools – it makes better players out of both of them, and they’re even able to – afterward – be friends again.

This was just so good. D.J. is really down-to-earth and funny, and while she doesn’t have the most phenomenal epiphanies, she really does think about things. She finds out that she’s just doing what everyone tells her/expects her to do and it pisses her off. She’s in an untenable situation and she’s got to find something of her own to like and do so that she doesn’t lose track of who she is. She takes things that are extremely difficult for her – talking to people for instance – and works on them, makes a real effort to understand the people around her and herself. She makes real progress, and it’s really great to watch it happen. You’ve got to root for D.J. Schwenk! (less)

like · see review

Feb 20, 2009 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Fifteen year old DJ Scwenk comes from comes from a long line of football greats including all three of her brothers. Unfortunately, that leaves DJ as the sole person to take care of her family's dairy farm since her father's many football injuries have left him fairly incapacitated. DJ knows what she's talking about when it comes to football, and she is enlisted by the coach for her town's rival (a long time family friend) to teach his quarterback a few things over the summer. DJ reluctantly han...more

like · see review

Jun 09, 2013 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The most interesting aspect of the story is the thread of role reversals. The relationships through the text flip social conventions and the power existing between family and friends. The theme fuses the text, whether through the daughter/father, mother/father, daughter/parent. Another surprising aspect is that the story ends with the beginning of the school year rather have the school year begin the story.

D.J.'s life is defined by trouble; trouble with her best friend, trouble with her coworke...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Yay or Nay?	16	61	Apr 22, 2013 06:57pm

combine
Other Editions (14)

More editions...

Genres

Young Adult

522 users

Sports And Games > Sports

142 users

Realistic Fiction

135 users

Romance

127 users

Young Adult > Teen

105 users

Contemporary

88 users

Womens Fiction > Chick Lit

52 users

Humor

28 users

Young Adult > Coming Of Age

26 users

Family

20 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I grew up in small-town Connecticut, on a tiny farm with honeybees, two adventurous goats, and a mess of Christmas trees. My sister claims we didn’t have a television, but we did, sometimes – only it was ancient, received exactly two channels, and had to be turned off after 45 minutes to cool down or else the screen would go all fuzzy. Watching (or rather, “watching”) Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds...more I grew up in small-town Connecticut, on a tiny farm with honeybees, two adventurous goats, and a mess of Christmas trees. My sister claims we didn’t have a television, but we did, sometimes – only it was ancient, received exactly two channels, and had to be turned off after 45 minutes to cool down or else the screen would go all fuzzy. Watching (or rather, “watching”) Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds was quite the experience, because it’s hard to tell a flock of vicious crows from a field of very active static; this might be why I still can’t stand horror movies, to this day.

My sister Liz, who is now a Very Famous Writer with a large stack of books, was my primary companion, even though she was extremely cautious – she wouldn’t even try to jump off the garage roof, which involved crouching right at the edge for ten minutes working up your nerve, and then checking each time you landed to see if you’d broken anything – and she learned early on that losing at games was easier in the long run than putting up with me losing. Now, of course, she travels all over the world collecting stories and diseases, while I stay at home scowling over paint chips, and losing on purpose to my kids. So the cycle continues. (Read an New York Times article by Catherine and Liz.)

People sometimes ask if I played football in high school: no. I ran cross country and track, badly, but I have absolutely no skill whatsoever with ball or team sports. Plus my high school didn’t even have a football team. Instead, I was part of the art clique – taking extra art classes, spending my study halls and lunch periods working on my latest still life. (Please tell me this was not a unique experience.) I didn’t do much writing – my sister was the anointed writer – but I read my little eyeballs out. I was the queen of our library’s YA section.

In college I studied architectural history. The formal name was “Growth and Structure of Cities Program,” but for me, it was all about buildings. I’ve always been fascinated with the built environment – how spaces fit together, how streets work, how they read. And curiously (Warning: Life Lesson approaching), it’s paid off in the oddest ways. For example, several of us in our neighborhood recently got quite upset about a enormous building going in across the street, and while everyone agreed that they didn’t like the way it looked, I was the one who stood up at public meetings and used words like entablature and cornice line and fenestration – all this architectural jargon I’d learned back at Bryn Mawr – and sounded like I knew what I was talking about. And because of that, the building ended up getting redesigned, and – in my humble opinion – now will look much more attractive and appropriate, which is nice because I’ll be looking at it for the rest of my life. So don’t be afraid to study what you love, because you do not know now, and you may not know for twenty years, how amazingly it will pay off. But it will.

Dairy Queen was my first stab at creative writing since high school, not counting several years as a struggling screenwriter (which followed several years as a struggling scholar). I unabashedly recommend screenwriting for mastering the art of storytelling; just don’t pin any hopes on seeing your work on the big screen. But you’ll learn so much in the process that this won’t matter. I also recommend, you know, living. I've been passionate about food pretty much my whole life – first eating it, now preparing and then eating it. And so it plays a pretty big role in my writing, and adds so much flavor . . . not literally, of course, but the more you can add that's true, whether it's emotion or geography or gardening (that’s me in the picture above), then the stronger that story is. (less)

More about Catherine Gilbert Murdock...

Books by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Domesticating Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol in America, 1870-1940

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Dairy Queen

13 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Dairy Queen

“When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.” — 1,131 people liked it

“It was like he was in a contest to see who could do the least work, only he was the only contestant.” — 32 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Dairy Queen
avg rating	preview: Dairy Queen Goodreads rating: 3.78 (12220 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16178.Dairy_Queen?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347858197l/16178.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16178.Dairy_Queen?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock[/url]

Dairy Queen (Dairy Queen #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website