The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I read this knowing full well it was a sequel, but since all the copies of "The Dairy Queen" were checked out I went with what we had.

As Mandy rightly points out, "The Off Season" is a great coming of age novel involving an eleventh grade, female protagonist (D.J. Schwenk) forced to deal with some serious real-life issues. There's certainly a sense of gravity to the problems D.J. encounters (her best friend is gay - and running away with an older woman, her brother suffers a serious spinal cord injury, the family farm is teetering on the brink, etc.), but Murdock's novel never sinks too far toward the hopeless. Part of that might be the Wisconsin small town family farm setting, but I think a larger part rests with D.J. herself. She's buoyant, resilient, smart, and brave. Readers won't be able to resist rooting for her as she winds her way through life's obstacles.

I thought "The Off Season" was absolutely charming; real without being too heavy, and smartly written without be too self-conscious. The voice of D.J. was nearly pitch perfect. Readers get a real sense of enthusiasm and exasperation as her words and thoughts come out in run-on, rapid fire bursts. Highly recommended.