Dairy Queen

What is it with me and football lately? I started watching FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, the tv series because of the summer reading book and found out that it is the best show ever! Then I read RASH and loved it to pieces. And now I found myself smiling like a ninny the whole way through DAIRY QUEEN.

It is the story of a high school girl who is running her parents' dairy farm while her father recovers from an injury. She ends up training the QB of the rival team (QB is football talk for quarterback for all you non-FNL watchers. And everyone I know except my brother-in-law.) and decides to try out for her high school team.

The main character, D.J. is so realistic and accessible that I felt like I was familiar with the things she was describing even though they are completely foreign to me. Catherine Gilbert Murdock is a first time novelist, which means I am going to get cranky and impatient waiting for her next book! This could be an excellent choice for next year's summer reading. Who doesn't love a book with a cow in a tiara on the cover?

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

I will try to add a picture here at some point. But for now I will just say - remember this title, folks. For you will surely see it on the summer reading list next year. I just finished it and it was fantastic! I laughed so hard at one point that I fell out of my chair. It was embarassing, but fun.
And the book is really interesting. I am thinking of trying for a theme for this years titles - somthing along the lines of books that show unfamiliar ways of life - or faraway places - or other cultures. Just a sense of "othernes". We shall see...