Dairy Queen, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

 My human (your librarian!) handed this book to me Friday afternoon, and asked if I wanted to read it. It is an older realistic fiction title, and book 1 of a 3-book set. But I always love the idea of a strong female protagonist (main character in the story), and in this book, DJ is a perfect lead - smart, strong, independent, and flawed...I loved her right away in this book!

DJ lives on a farm in Wisconsin, and due to family circumstances (that many of us can related to), she spends most of her awake time working the farm and going to school. She has little time for anything else, until the quarterback for the rival high school football team shows up one day wanting to "help" work the farm. His coach has sent him to get back in shape for the upcoming football season. Girl meets boy - she's a farm girl, he's a popular athlete, they attend rival high schools - things happen! Until DJ discovers that 1. She enjoys football, and 2. She's good at it! So, SHE decided to try out for her high school team!

If you like sports themes in a book, there is enough here to satisfy your love of sports. If you love a good romance, like a Jenny Han book, for example (To All the Boys I've Loved Before), you'll enjoy this as well! If you like strong, independent girls (or boys!) in your stories (like I do!), you'll like this also! 

This is Murdock's first book, and the first of three in this set. The author writes DJ perfectly - sarcastic, smart, caring, trying to navigate a dysfunctional family, romance, school, life...the characters in this book have stayed in my brain long after I finished reading. That, to me, is the sign of a really good book! Read this! 4 paws and a wag!

Nowhere Boy, by Katherine Marsh

 My first OBOB book from next season, and this was wonderful! Marsh is also the author of several other books, The Night Tourist being the one I remember seeing but not yet reading. Now that I have read Nowhere Boy, I look forward to reading Tourist, and perhaps more of her work!

Nowhere Boy tells the story of two boys, Ahmed from Syria and Max from the United States. Two teen boys with much in common but also with many differences. Their paths cross in really well-told ways, with credit to Marsh and her beautiful storytelling abilities. I hesitate to explain too much of this story as it sounds like an Alan Gratz book in some ways (which is a good thing), but outside of refugees being a large part of this book as well as some of Gratz's books, the writing style is very different between the two. Gratz tells a tense, fast-moving story, and does it very well (see my previous blog about Refugee). Marsh tells a tense, fast-moving story with more heart, somehow...it really worked for me as few other books have. This story and these characters will stay in my head and heart for some time. That is the sign of an exceptional book (and author)! 5 paws!