Dairy Queen Book

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 take over the lion's share of work on her family's small dairy farm after her father is injured. She is overwhelmed by milking, cleaning out the barn, mowing and haying, with almost no help but her younger brother's. In fact she is so overwhelmed, that she doesn't realize that her life at the moment has no direction or point. This is pointed to her by a lazy and arrogant Brian, the rival high school's quarterback, who is sent to D.J.'s farm to help her out, learn work ethics, and get some football training. Strangely enough, Brian has something to teach D.J. too - to look at her life style closer, to do some soul-searching, to become a better communicator.

I can't say that Dairy Queen is a mind-blowing kind of book. It's not really edgy or a dark "issue book." And that's a good thing. This is a novel about balancing family responsibilities and personal desires, about what it is to be a good person, and about importance of open communication in a family. D.J. is a very likable narrator, self-deprecating, hard-working, honest. She, along with the rest of the characters, feels very real and relatable. The teen romance is very well done too. It is realistic, doesn't overwhelm the story and never becomes cheesy or sappy, which is very important to me. I will undoubtedly read the next book in this 3-part series.