Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

D.J. Schwenk comes from a football family in Red Bend, Wisconsin. He dad has always loved the game, so much so that all of the cows on their diary farm are named for famous players or coaches. Her two older brothers were stars of the local football team. This summer finds D.J. hard at work on the family dairy farm because of her dad’s recent hip surgery. She is doing it all. Then one day Brian Nelson, the quarterback from Red Bend’s biggest rival shows up at the farm. D.J. has agreed to train Brian, he could use some improvement and she knows the game as well as her brothers after having trained with them for years. As D.J. teaches Brian the value of hard work and a good attitude, Brian teaches D.J. the importance of talking and voicing her thoughts. Each of them learns something valuable about themselves during the summer. In D.J.’s case, she remembers how much she loves playing football and that inspires her to try out for the football team this year.