The Off Season
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Published by Houghton Mifflin
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed By Melissa McNallan
D.J. is a breath of fresh, down-to-earth country air, and one of the best female characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading about. She plays varsity football and not as the kicker, but the linebacker. She plays for Red Bend High School. Her boyfriend kind-of is Brian Nelson, one of the most popular guys at Hawley High School, and Hawley’s quarterback. The two schools have been major rivals forever. Can their relationship survive football season?
D.J. isn’t even the type of girl she envisions Brian dating. She’s the strong, silent type like most of her family and nothing like the popular girls she thinks he’d prefer. When she’s put on the spot, verbal acuity completely escapes her.
Good grades don’t come easy to D.J., but she is an intelligent and witty narrator. Her adventures, misadventures and the struggles she faces throughout will make readers laugh, cry and blush. D.J. is trying to help keep her family’s dairy farm going. Her best friend might be leaving town, thanks to the bullies at school teasing her for being a lesbian.
D.J. is also trying to keep from disappointing the team in her first season as a football player. These problems seem pretty major until her older brother Win, a quarterback for the University of Washington, is seriously injured on the football field.
The Off Season is the sequel to the a novel, Dairy Queen, winner of several awards including the Borders, Original Voices Award, in the Young Adult category.
Armchair Interviews says: This book should be on every young woman’s bookshelf. Gift some young woman and listen to her rave about the wonderful and real characters.
Author’s Web site: http://www.CatherineMurdock.com