The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

Continuing the story started in Dairy Queen, readers join DJ as she is playing high school football.  Everything is going wonderfully in her life.  Brian Nelson is still in her life and has started kissing her, she has repaired her friendship with her best friend Amber, and her two older brothers are regularly appearing on TV playing college football.  But then things change.  Brian starts acting strangely when they are in public, her mother throws her back out, the family farm is struggling, and an accident throws the entire family into turmoil.  But the one thing we can all count on is that DJ knows how to face calamity head on and deal with it using humor and strength.

Second books can often be disappointing, especially following such an incredible debut novel.  But this one stands entirely on its own, perhaps even outdoing the first.  DJ’s voice continues to be authentic, witty and sharp as she faces disasters in her life.  As in the first book, she is an intriguing mix of power, tongue-tied shyness, and self-effacing humor.  In this second book, there are paragraphs of such powerful writing that they are gut-punchingly real:

“Mom started to cry.  Only it wasn’t crying like when you cry at a sad movie.  It was– it was the sound I imagine an animal making when her babies are dead.  Without words or breath or anything until the whole room vibrated…”

Searing writing like that mixed with humor creates an amazing rollercoaster of a book.  The secondary characters continue to be surprising, well-written and complex.  They all ring very true as does the complicated family dynamic. 

Highly recommended for those who enjoyed the first book with both books highly recommended if you haven’t read either of them.  Appropriate for teens, ages 14-18.