Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Darlene Joyce “DJ” Schwenk is a cow. At least that’s what Brian Nelson, quarterback from the rival high school football team, just called her. It’s not because of her looks… although she is built like rest of the Schwenk kids; big and strong. It’s not because she’s lazy… just the opposite, she been running the Schwenk dairy farm by herself since her father had to have hip surgery. And it’s not because she’s dumb; although she’s nearly flunking out of English because of all the work, she certainly knows about dairy farming and, of course, football. Everybody in Red Bend, Wisconsin basically breathes football. Her father even names the cows after football players. And of course growing up with two older brothers, Bill and Wes, who are practically football legends for Red Bend doesn't hurt either. No, Brian just called DJ a cow because she does what she’s told and doesn't speak up for herself. OK, Brian’s got her on that one. No one in the Schwenk family speaks up for themselves. Heck, younger brother Curtis hardly speaks at all. Her older brothers, Bill and Wes, haven’t called since they took off to college after the fight with their dad; that was seven months ago. DJ hardly sees her mom since she became teacher and acting principal of Red Bend High school. As Brian says, “When you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.” DJ has given up playing sports to run the farm and she’s exhausted plus she’s just been asked to be the personal trainer for whiny, spoiled, rich Hawley football quarterback Brian Nelson for the summer. But does she say anything about it? Nope. She just does what she’s told, just like the cows.

DJ soon finds out that she likes training for football with Brian, she likes talking with Brian… she likes talking (and she likes Brian too). DJ finds her voice and figures out what will may her happy; playing football for the Red Bend High School football team! What will the football team say about that? What will her family say? What will Brian say? She’s certainly not acting like a cow now! Read Dairy Queen; an amazing, empowering and utterly enjoyable story about finding your passions and learning to find your voice. 

Review: The Scorpio Races

The Scorpio Races

by Maggie Stiefvater

 

Book Description:

Some race to win. Others race to survive.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.

Some riders live.
Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn't given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition - the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

Review:

I LOVED The Scorpio Races. It was lyrical. It was gritty. It was the perfect mix of folktale and old-style cautionary fairy tale that I just can't seem to read enough. There was romance in a very realistic way. There were killer water horses that were beautiful and enticing and thoroughly deadly. There were word choices that just sang in my ears. Stiefvater really knocked this one out of the park!

I also want to mention that I listened to this book as an audiobook and I think it was phenomenally done. The actors chosen perfectly suited their characters and the tone of the book was great on audio. My only problem was that when it came to nearing the end, I couldn't sit in the car long enough to finish it!! I finally broke down and read the last fifty pages or so.

I loved this book enough to give it a coveted GOLD STAR.

 

And...here is me echoing the words of those before me...

If you haven't read this one, yet, WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Read it. Really. 



Review: Dead End in Norvelt

Dead End in Norvelt

by Jack Gantos

Book Description:

Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launced on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder.

Review:

This was a strange and weirdly wonderful book. Told by Jack Gantos, this is a fictional autobiography...very weird indeed. These two months in Jack's life, have a very, very strange tone that kept me captivated even as I was trying to piece together exactly what was going on.

The story starts with a series of seemingly unrelated events. As the tale spins on, though, both Jack and the reader begin to piece things together and all these strange things meld into one wild tale! I couldn't wait to see what happened next...

I also have to tell you that I listened to this as an audiobook and the author reads it himself. Jack Gantos has this slightly quirky voice that just fit this book perfectly. It was a great audiobook! I am so glad I experienced the story that way. I highly recommend it.

Review: What Happened to Goodbye

What Happened to Goodbye

by Sarah Dessen

Book Description:

Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out. 

Review:
Sarah Dessen's books alway make me cry at least a little.  They are great summer reads and they are great for any time that you want something that will make you both smile and tear up. They deal with family and relationship issues in such a great way, too.

For example, in What Happened to Goodbye, McLean is dealing with her "issues" following her parents divorce. Rather than move in with her mom and her mom's new husband and twin toddlers, McLean chooses to live with her father...and that means moving from place to place for his job.  McLean loves the fact that they move, though, because it gives her the chance to reinvent herself in each place. 

When she finds a guy who really seems to get her, though, she finds that she suddenly wants to be "herself" again.  Can McLean rediscover who she was or wants to be today?

This book dealt with the fallout of McLean's parents divorce really, really well. What I loved most was that they were a family that finally pulled together in the end...around McLean... when she needed it the most.  I loved the restaurant setting and I loved the secondary characters that worked at Luna Blu. 

Another great book from Sarah Dessen.

Review: Perception

Perception

by Kim Harrington

Clarity, book two 

Book Description:
When you can see things others can't, what happens when someone is watching you?

Everybody knows about Clarity "Clare" Fern. She's the psychic girl in school, the one who can place her hands on something and see hidden visions from the past.

Only, Clare would rather not be a celebrity. She prefers hanging back, observing. Her gift is not a game to her.

But then someone starts playing with her head and heart. Messages and gifts from a secret admirer crop up everywhere Clare turns. Could they be from Gabriel, the gorgeous boy who gets Clare's pulse racing? Or from Justin, Clare's hopeful ex-boyfriend who'd do anything to win her back?

One thing is certain. Clare needs to solve this mystery, and soon. Because the messages are becoming sinister, and a girl in town has suddenly disappeared. Clare needs to see her way to the truth -- before it's much too late.

Review:

I loved this follow-up to Clarity.

I still think that Clare is a fantastic character and I love her power. It would be cool, interesting, and sometimes creepy to be able to touch things and see visions!

I thought that there was a lot of great stuff going on with Clare's family in this book. I love the bond that she and her brother share...and thought it was well tested in this book. I also love watching Clare and her mother figure things out...

I have to confess I was eagerly anticipating the romance element of this book. I could not wait to see what would happen with Clare and her two beaus...I thought that Harrington did great with this aspect. It was realistic and fun.

The mystery in this one was totally creepy. Stalker books always give me the heebie-jeebies. I will confess that I figured out who the bad guy was just a hair before Clare did...but not by much! I thought the mystery was well done.

I can't wait for what happens next. :)

Review: Body of Water

Body of Water

by Sarah Dooley

Book Description:

Twelve-year-old Ember’s trailer home has been burned in a fire set most likely by her best friend, a boy whose father believes Ember’s family are witches. Yes, Ember’s mom reads Tarot cards as a business. Ember’s friend set the fire to warn the family before his dad did something worse to them. The friend never intended to do so much damage.

Now the family is homeless, and living in a campground. They have no money. Ember’s beloved dog is missing. School is going to start, and Ember and her sister have no clean clothes, no notebooks. The only place Ember feels at peace is floating in the middle of the lake at the campground. She has to make a fresh start. Can she? 

Review:

Ember has no house, no money, no clothes, and no friends.  Life sucks.

 

Though I didn't *like* Ember, I really understood her.  She was not always nice, but who would be when they were homeless and knew that their best friend had betrayed them??  I understood where she was coming from all the way through. 

 

Though the end of this book seemed to wrap up a little too neatly, I really enjoyed the story and thought it was way more interesting than the poor cover that the book got saddled with...

 

Review: I'll Be There

I'll Be There

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Book Description:



Sam Border wishes he could escape. Raised by an unstable father, he's spent his life moving from place to place. But he could never abandon his little brother, Riddle.

Riddle Border doesn't talk much. Instead, he draws pictures of the insides of things and waits for the day when the outsides of things will make sense. He worships his older brother. But how can they leave when there's nowhere to go? Then everything changes. Because Sam meets Emily.

Emily Bell believes in destiny. She sings for her church choir, though she doesn't have a particularly good voice. Nothing, she feels, is mere coincidence. And she's singing at the moment she first sees Sam.

Everyone whose path you cross in life has the power to change you--sometimes in small ways, and sometimes in ways greater than you could have ever known. 

Review:

This novel reads beautifully. It is touching and compelling. I think that almost every reader would find something here to love.

While Sam and Emily find each other, the romance is only a fraction of this book. There are great examples of familial relationships and there is also the perfect example of a horribly dysfunctional family.

There is danger, there is excitement, there are secrets, betrayals, and hidden agendas.

There is beautiful music, art, and cooking.

There are facets and hidden nooks in this book that make it wonderful and it reads very quickly. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Review: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness
*based on an idea by Siobhan Dowd*

Book Description:
At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.

Review:
I really loved this book. The story is really good. Conor is dealing with the fact that his mother is slowly dying from cancer, and in his grief he accidentally calls an ancient monster.

The illustrations in the book perfectly match the darkness of the tale. It's really cool to see the monster and Conor's anger on the page.

This book was dark and haunting, sad and thrilling, dangerous and loving. It is really well done and worth checking out... just keeps some tissues near by...you may need them!