DAIRY QUEEN

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. 2006. DAIRY QUEEN. Boston: Little, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.

DAIRY QUEEN by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is a unique story of a teenager who basically runs her family’s farm and gets the idea in her head that she, a female, will try out for her school football team. 15-year-old D.J. doesn’t want to be a cow, which is what she is according to her sometimes friend/sometimes enemy Brian Nelson. Not literally, of course, but in the sense that she’s doing what’s expected of her, not making waves, and certainly not doing what makes her happiest.

D.J. feels stuck. With her father injured and her older brothers away at college, she’s left with taking care of the family farm along with her younger brother, who’s not always there thanks to baseball season. D.J. was once on the school’s basketball team, but she gave that up to focus more on her responsibilities at home. With that gone, going to college on a scholarship is no longer an option and that leaves her feeling uncertain of her future. Well, uncertain of whether it’ll contain anything other than milking cows and baling hay, that is.

Readers who long to break out of the mold that their family and peers have cast them in will relate to D.J. and cheer her on as she begins to realize that she’s capable of so much more than she’s ever given herself credit for. She’s a great female role model for the younger generation, not only for her strength of character, but also for her daring. Trying out for an all male football team is no lighthearted decision. She takes all of the possible hurdles into account and decides she’s passionate enough about it and strong enough to weather through it. Says one reviewer, “At the end...it is the protagonist's heart that will win readers over. Dairy Queen will appeal to girls who, like D.J., aren't girly-girls but just girls, learning to be comfortable in their own skins. The football angle may even hook some boys” (Pickett).

Reference List:

Pickett, Amy. 2006. Review of Dairy Queen, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. School Library Journal.