When you don't talk, there's a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said... Stuff like why DJ's best friend, Amber, isn't so friendly anymore. Or why her little brother, Curtis, never opens his mouth. Why her mum has two jobs and a big secret. Why her college-football-star brothers won't even call home. Why her dad would go ballistic if she tried out for the high school football team herself. And why Brian is so, so out of her league. Welcome to the summer that fifteen-year-old DJ Schwenk of Red Bend, Wisconsin, learns to talk, and ends up having an awful lot of stuff to say."I absolutely loved Dairy Queen. The book gave me an enormous amount of pleasure, and I am now missing every single character, including the dog. It was funny and sad and I adored it" (Jaclyn Moriarty)"Dairy Queen is a celebration of the kind of girl who, a generation ago, wasn't supposed to exist. It's a celebration of strength... A breath of fresh air among bookshelves crammed with young adult novels featuring mean girls obsessed with looks, designer labels and claustrophobic high school hierarchy" (The New York Times)