Product Description

Life is looking up for D.J. Schwenk. Shes in eleventh grade, finally. After a rocky summer, shes reconnecting in a big way with her best friend, Amber. Shes got kind of a thing going with Brian Nelson, whos cute and popular and smart but seems to like her anyway. And then theres the fact shes starting for the Red Bend High School football team-the first girl linebacker in northern Wisconsin, probably. Which just shows you cant 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 shes 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #414509 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 7–10—This sequel to Murdock's Dairy Queen (Houghton, 2006) catches readers up with narrator D.J. Schwenk as she hits her stride in her junior year of high school. She's playing linebacker for her high school football team, hanging out with Brian (the rival high school's quarterback), earning passing grades, and pulling her weight on her family's struggling dairy farm. But "a whole herd of trouble" is coming her way. First, D.J. and, by extension, Brian become the unwitting subjects of a People magazine article. Then D.J. suffers a shoulder injury that threatens her sports career, her gay best friend runs away with an older girlfriend, and D.J. notices that Brian isn't too keen on being seen with her in public. These problems are all put into perspective when D.J.'s older brother, Win, suffers a serious spinal-cord injury during a college football game. D.J. stays by his side in the hospital, a task made even tougher by Win's refusal to communicate, and accompanies him to rehab in Minnesota. There's no too-tidy ending here; readers gain a sense of the wait-and-see and grueling nature of physical rehabilitation. Though not as laugh-out-loud funny as the earlier title, The Off Season depicts a believably maturing D.J., a young woman whose character shines through even as she struggles to find her voice. Readers will root for her at every tragicomic turn, and will hope to hear from her again in future novels.—Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Natalie Moore is the voice of D.J. Schwenk in this sequel to DAIRY QUEEN. D.J.s family eats, sleeps, and breathes football. Two brothers play college football, Bill at Minnesota and Win at Washington; youngest brother Curtis is on the eighth-grade team, and eleventh-grader D.J. has achieved her dream--starting as the first girl linebacker in the state of Wisconsin. Add to that a blossoming relationship with the hunky quarterback on the team of Red Bend High Schools biggest rival, and life is good. Moore delivers the goods, bringing D.J. alive with just a hint of a Midwestern accent and all the enthusiasm of a teenage girl who is in love with life. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
This funny, touching follow-up to Dairy Queen (2006), a 2007 Best Book for Young Adults, succeeds whether read on its own or as a sequel. D. J.'s junior year starts off promisingly: she has finally been accepted as a valuable player on the football team, and Brian Nelson, quarterback for a rival school, is still coming around to see her. Storm clouds gather, though, as her close friend is bullied for being gay, money problems on the farm increase, and an injury forces D. J. to choose between football and basketball, which could net her a college scholarship. She also begins to wonder why Brian makes out with her but never wants to take her anywhere. Then brother Winn is seriously injured on the football field, forcing her to gain some much-needed perspective. D. J. is an easygoing, likable narrator, full of self-deprecating humor and insight, and her struggles, whether they are everyday or life altering, will resonate with teen audiences. Krista Hutley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
When we last left D.J. Schwenk in DAIRY QUEEN, she was trying to cope with her family's problems, the inclusion of Brian into her life, and surviving being on the Red Bend football team. You know, when most people thought girls shouldn't be on the team.

At first it seemed like she had found solutions to all of those problems. But all good things must come to an end, whether D.J. likes it or not.

With Brian being her sort of boyfriend, D.J. is pretty ecstatic, since not only is he hot and athletic, he is her first real boyfriend. But it sort of creates a problem since D.J. isn't so sure where there relationship is heading or if it is going at all. Brian isn't too sure, either, since it seems like D.J. would rather spend time with her family then hang out with him.

Her friend, Amber, is starting to get noticed, for all the wrong reasons, though. Now known as the girl with a girlfriend, Amber is beginning to change, once again, right in front of D.J.'s eyes, all because people in their town don't approve of that kind of relationship.

D.J.'s family is beginning to resolve their relationship problems. But when they think all is well, their financial problems come into play. Not only that, but D.J. herself and her brother, Win, suffer injuries that just might put an end to what they love the most.

While trying to control all of her problems, D.J. must be able to find her strength, the one that got her through her summer and the one that helped her get on the football team.

Once again, D.J. shines as a heroine who shows that everyone has the ability to get over any obstacle thrown their way.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen