Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen a young adult book written by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. This is a story about a 15 year old girl,D.J., who as fate would have it is left to do all the farm work after her father is injured the previous year. Thus the nickname Dairy Queen.

D.J. has a few things that matter the most in her life, the farm, football, and her family. With these things taking up her time she is surprised one day when Brian, the quarterback of the rival football team shows up on on the farm and says that his coach, an old family friend, has said that he has to help out on the farm. D.J. is supposed to put him to work and train him up for the next football season.

D.J. has a sarcastic sense of humor and doesn't often say what she's thinking. Over the course of the summer Brian and D.J. become friends and something more than friendship seems to be growing between them. When D.J. tries out for her high school football team, Brian finds out and this causes problems for their friendship.

Something major that I picked up in this story is that communication is vital to a health relationship of any kind. It wasn't until the last couple of pages that I realized how much I'd learned about talking. D.J. learns in this story that problems and situations in our lives won't be resolved until we face what we are most afraid of, or most uncomfortable with.

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: Graphia; 288 edition (June 4, 2007)
• Idea for additional use: I think this is a good book that would be a good tool to use when dealing with students or people who struggle in identifying what some problems may be in their lives. Also, this book focuses a lot about communication and how important it is. I think that communication skills are critical for the happiness of a person.