Dairy Queen

Bibliography:

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert (Author); Moore, Natalie (Reader). (2006). Dairy Queen [Audiobook]. New York, NY: Listening Library.

Audiobook Information:

• Audible Audio Edition
• Listening Length: 6 hours and 7 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: Listening Library
• Audible.com Release Date: May 18, 2006
• Reader: Natalie Moore

ASIN: B000FTCJK0

Genre: realistic fiction

Reading Level/Interest Age: 12+

Plot Summary: Football is considered a boy’s sport. Farm work, though, is for everyone, especially 17 year old DJ.  And since her dad’s injury, DJ has little time to do anything but milk cows and hay fields. She even failed English because she had no time for homework. But a family friend remembers how hard DJ played ball alongside her brothers, training them before upcoming seasons. Seeing that she needed to focus on something besides cows, he asks her to train a player for the rival high school’s football team. Her team loyalty is strong, so asking her to help the enemy is even worse than asking her to muck out yet another stall. Realizing that she doesn’t have a choice, DJ relents and spends a month of afternoons pushing Brian to the brink of exhaustion. As she helps him finetune his playing, she realizes that her skills are even better than his. Carefully considering her options and the effects they might have, DJ decides to try out for the all-male football team. The results of her efforts, though, have unexpected consequences that shift the courses of who she is and how she is perceived.

Critical Evaluation: Reader Natalie Moore gives an insightful and natural depth to Dairy Queen. Her upper midwestern accent, with its drawn out, diphthong o’s and upward lifts, gives a casual and comfortable tone to the story. The listener can honestly believe that DJ Schwank, football-playing, cow milking farm girl, is telling the story. Natalie Moore also sounds like a teenage girl, not an adult using a high-pitched tone as is typical in many audio books told from a teenage girl point of view. She often drops the last sound in words (somethin’) and her emphasis in phrases and on particular words provides angsty intonations and, all too common to teenage girls, auditory italics. She also does an amazing job in portraying emotion--her voice expanding to show disbelief (Brian Nelson doesn’t even know what a manure spreader is) and contracting to show sadness (losing Joe Nameth the cow) The production of this audio version of Dairy Queen is clear, with just the proper amount of pause between sections and chapters. Natalie Moore’s superb reading adds a level of credibility that adds depth and emotion to Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Dairy Queen.

Reader’s Annotation: DJ always loved football, but it wasn’t until she trained a player on a rival high school’s team that it occurred to her that she could play too.

Author Information: Catherine Gilbert Murdock grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. After studying architectural history in college, she entered the screenwriting field. With little success to her name, she started writing young adult fiction and has found the success she was seeking.¹

Murdock “currently lives in Philadelphia with her husband, two brilliant, unicycling children, several cats, and a one-acre yard that she is slowly transforming into a wee but flourishing ecosystem.”²

Curriculum ties: none

Booktalks: girls entering male-dominated sports; coming of age

Challenge issues: girls entering male-dominated sports

Challenge resources (for usage in a challenge situation):

• Library Selection Policy

• Rationale explaining why the item was chosen for the collection
• Active listening skills
• Awards
• Reconsideration form (as a last resort)
• Illinois Library Association (Banned Books Listings)
• National Council of Teachers of English “Right to Read”
• Positive and negative reviews: expert, parent, student
• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials
• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

• Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
• Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Reasoning: The main character of Dairy Queen is an excellent role model for teen girls looking to explode the gender-related boundaries that may hold them back. Even for those not looking to break into male-dominated sports teams, this is an inspiring book, reminding teen girls that they don’t have to abide by gender restrictions.

References:

¹Catherine Gilbert Murdock. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://www.amazon.com/Catherine-Gilbert-Murdock/e/B001ILHIWI/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

²Catherine Gilbert Murdock. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/361963.Catherine_Gilbert_Murdock?from_search=true&search_version=service