Well, if that was his screwed-up Schwenk way of showing gratitude, I was just as Schwenk-awful at receiving it. Sheesh. But no matter how angry I've been these past months, and resentful, and phone-slamming, I-won't-talk-to-him mad, that doesn't mean I don't know what he did.
Win, you say I saved your life. Well, you didn't save mine: you got me one. You've found me a better life than I ever imagined I deserved. And no matter how much I refused to listen, and kept shouting out that you were wrong, you kept insisting I was worth it. Until I had no alternative left but to hear you out.
I'll never forget that. Never. And just so you know, I will think of you ... well, I'll think of you a lot. Every Big Ten game I play, every time I sit there waiting to run out in front of ten thousand people and play the very best I can, to be the very best player that D.J. Schwenk could ever be, I will think of you, Win, and this is what I will whisper to myself:
Thank you.
Acknowledgments
Tight end Bennie Cunningham played for Clemson University and then the Pittsburgh Steelers, competing in two Super Bowls. He now works in the Guidance Department of West-Oak High School in South Carolina, and has graciously offered the use of his name to a Schwenk Farm cow.
Aaron's cheesehead hat was inspired by a gift from the charming students and staff of Cherokee Heights Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin. I apologize to them and to the hundreds of readers from all over the world who have asked (often quite forcefully) when I was going to get around to finishing this book. I know it's taken far too long, and I hope it meets your expectations.
Becky Bohm, Barb Smith, Ted Riverso and the incomparable Patsy Kahmann of the University of Minnesota patiently answered my many basketball questions, and then patiently answered them again. Sylvia Hatchell's Complete Guide to Coaching Girls' Basketball taught me pretty much everything D.J. now knows about the game.
Though Stewart Irving and I were both raised in Connecticut, he had the great good luck to end up at Berkeley, where in 1990 he introduced me to They Might Be Giants and Flood. "Dead" remains a lifelong favorite, and Stewart a good friend. Every couple of years we call each other and marvel at the fact we've somehow turned into grownups.
Liz, Mom, Dad, Nick, Nick, Mimi, Mari: thanks for reading, for listening, for critiquing, for laughing. Jill Grinberg took the tangle of the first FAC draft and shaped it into a narrative thread; Margaret Raymo coaxed me into weaving this thread into something worth reading. I cannot image a more supportive and perceptive agent or editor.
My Wisconsin cousin Forrest Olson was a high school and college basketball star. I remember in particular an August reunion when I offered to jog with him around the lake, and his father whispered later that I'd almost killed him: apparently distance running hadn't been part of his off-season training regimen. This experience and several others, I now realize, formed the nucleus of Dairy Queen. After a heroic battle with cancer, Forrest passed away in 2007. Yet even in their grief, his widow and parents have found time to explain team sports, clarify Vikings-Packers enmity, and identify innumerable errors, large and small, in my drafts. Front and Center is a story about courage and perseverance; Darla, Carol, and Rod embody these virtues.
And finally, I thank James. You are, in the very best possible sense, my Brian.
Beaner's Playlist
We all know Beaner from Dairy Queen and The Off Season, but in Front and Center we get to know him an awful lot better, including this CD-length compilation I created for him while writing. Some of these songs are mentioned in Front and Center. "Helpless" is not, but every time I listen to it, I think of D.J. Similarly, several others, such as "Get the Party Started," just remind me of Beaner. I can't help but visualize him bopping around whenever the music starts.
In the interests of journalistic integrity, or whatever the integrity fiction writers are supposed to have, I should report that Marty Beller, the drummer for They Might Be Giants, is married to my agent. But I was first introduced to TMBG (or "Giants," as they slyly describe it) in 1990 by a roommate of my friend Stewart, right before I almost crushed Stew's skull. The band embodies Beaner's irreverent exuberance.
BIRDHOUSE IN YOUR SOUL They Might Be Giants
GET THE PARTY STARTED Plnk
SHOUT The Isley Brothers
ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY Joe Walsh
MONY MONY Tommy James and the Shondells
HOLD MY HAND Hootie & the Blowfish
GIMME SOME LOVIN' The Spencer Davis Group
IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE)
R.E.M.
DEAD They Might Be Giants
OH! DARLING The Beatles
TREAT HER RIGHT The Commitments
GIMME SHELTER The Rolling Stones
RESPECT Aretha Franklin
WHY DOES THE SUN SHINE? (THE SUN IS A MASS OF
INCANDESCENT GAS) They Might Be Giants
NEW SOUL Yael Naim
MONEY (THAT'S WHAT I WANT) Barrett Strong
BRICK HOUSE The Commodores
GET BUSY Sean Paul
A LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION Elvis Presley
AND I AM TELLING YOU I'M NOT GOING Dreamgirls
HELPLESS Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Reading Group Guide
At the end of chapter 1, D.J. declares that "front and center sucks." What does she mean, exactly? How does this sentiment fit into the book as a whole?
What's the biggest challenge D.J. faces in Front and Center? What did you think it was going to be?
D.J.'s relationship with her family evolves a great deal over the book, and the series. Provide examples of this evolution with her father—mother—Curtis—Win—Bill.
Brian's father has a small but critical role in Front and Center —indeed, in all three books. What does he add to the story? What do Amber and Dale add?
Dale and Curtis are my two favorite characters in the series. Who are yours?
What did you think about Brian and D.J.? What about Beaner and D.J.? What would you do if you were in D.J.'s shoes?
Do you know anyone who's been recruited for college, either for athletics or for other activities? What was their experience? How would you feel in D.J.'s situation?
How do the issues and problems that D.J. faces in Front and Center compare to those in Dairy Queen and The Off Season?
In Front and Center, The Off Season, and Dairy Queen, D.J. each time writes to a specific recipient—to an audience of one, if you will. How does this structure affect the books and the reading experience?
What is the moral of Front and Center? Of the Dairy Queen series?
Meet the author
Front and Center is the third and final book in the series about D.J. Schwenk and her family. Did you find it difficult to say goodbye to this cast of characters?
Yes and no. I miss them, but we spent almost six years together, and it's time for all of us to make some new friends. D.J. is so grown up—far more grown up than I was, or am, or will ever be—and it's nice to imagine her off on her own, making the world a better place.
Why did you write a third book about D.J.? Are you sure her story is over?
I never meant to write a third book, just as I'd never meant to write a second. But the volume of mail was so huge! It seemed that no one wanted the story to end. And I had some questions as well that I still needed to answer. I do have thoughts about her future, I'll confess, but I'm not going to write them down for many years. I'd really like to write about her freshman year of college, as there are so few YA books about that. This is absolutely shocking, but it's not surprising, not when you think about it. YA is read by twelve-year-olds. You can tone down high school, more or less, for middle-schoolers, but college is just way too raw. I'm not talking about the quote-unquote adult activity, but just the sheer reality of the collegiate experience. "All my life I've wanted to be a doctor, and now I'm flunking organic chemistry"...That's as much college as keg parties, and no less disturbing to a sixth-grader. So I'll probably just keep D.J
.'s future to myself. But check back with me in 2020.
In Front and Center, D.J. deals with the college basketball recruiting process and you describe her feelings of angst and indecision so well. How do you know so much about this process?
While researching The Off Season, I'd inadvertently come across a great deal about college sports recruiting—for example, the biography of Adam Tagliaferra, a Penn State football player with a spinal cord injury. As a total non-athlete, I'd always viewed sports recruiting as a huge Get Out of Jail Free card. You have this great physical talent and so win yourself a scholarship—boom!—while the rest of us peons have to toil away writing essays and taking SATs and actually applying. But of course it turns out that the reality is far different. Recruiting requires years —years —of work by athletes, parents, and coaches ... One college coach told me, in so many words, "The system is completely out of control." Plus there's no more guarantee of success than in the regular admissions process. I'd argue it's even more stressful given the omnipresent threat of injury and the unknowns of future play (Will the student pick a winning team? Will's/he get playing time? Will the "star" athlete flounder at the university level?), compounded by the expectation of academic success as well.
I had no idea of this all when I began Front and Center— I certainly didn't know it while writing Dairy Queen, which explains why there's not nearly enough detail on recruiting in that first book! It was great fun getting to know several college and high school coaches, picking their brains. I didn't want D.J. to be a superstar, in part because I hadn't planted that seed well enough in the earlier books, but also because superstars aren't as interesting. "Oh, I'm perfect, I'm fantastic, everyone wants me"...Bring out the kryptonite for that dude. I found it far more intriguing (1) to make her abilities a bit more borderline within the D-I community, and (2) to have her doubt herself. The plot conflict of "will she get in or won't she" is far too pat. I much prefer the drama of her struggle not over whether she'll get in but whether she even wants to play. D.J. has spent her whole life feeling like an outsider and a bit of a loser, in the sense that she's never felt like a winner. When one is in that mind-set (and far too many of us have wallowed there, myself included), it's luxuriously easy to dismiss the winners—as D.J. phrased it in The Off Season —as having "easy lives." She's as much of a snob in her own way as Brian is. And in Front and Center she's forced to confront the truth that winning isn't any easier than losing is.
You receive a lot of e-mails and letters from fans. Are there any in particular that stand out? Or an overall theme that stands out?
The fan mail is truly extraordinary. I don't know if it's her personality or her voice or her everygirl quality, but D.J. inspires the most passionate, heartfelt, unvarnished correspondence I've ever seen. At first I thought this was normal for authors, even though my agent and editor kept saying no. Now that Princess Ben has been out for a while, I finally understand how right they are. My Princess Ben mail is lovely: "Thank you for the wonderful book. Please write more fairy tales, as I truly enjoyed it." Whereas DQ and TOS produce—and I quote—"Your my favorite author ... You are an exceptional righter." Isn't that completely endearing? And it was from a librarian! (Joke.)
Everyone asked for a third book, or mentioned that they can't wait to read it. I also got lots of advice on how D.J. should progress romantically. Strong feelings about Brian—readers either love him and hope he sees the light, or want D.J. to drop him like a hot rock. Here's one example: "I was reading the FAQs on your website and you mentioned DJ and Brian possibly getting back together in Front and Center, please do NOT let that happen. I never really liked Brian and DJ deserves someone better. If I choose who DJ fell for it would be Beaner or Kyle, please take this into consideration."
An excerpt from another critically acclaimed book by Catherine Gilbert Murdock!
Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts
"Your behavior is despicable!" the prince snapped.
"In what way?" I snapped back. "You have no cause to criticize me."
"No cause? I vowed, the moment I left that cursed Blue Room and your conniving sorcery, never to speak of what I had witnessed, and until this day I had no incentive to do so. Since our arrival in this demon castle, however, as I witness your handiwork, I cannot but fear for the preservation of all that I hold dear."
"My handiwork? As hostess and emissary?"
"Emissary? Hostess? Do not toy with me! I am no longer some innocent trapped by your lies and spell work! I demand, should you value your life and the lives of your people, to break at once the enchantment you have placed upon my father!"
So staggered was I by this fallacious and spiteful accusation that I nigh broke my ankle on the ridiculous heels on which I tottered. "Enchantment, you say? It is enchantment to practice dance for hour after hour, day after day, with a man who reeks of fish? To ride, and write, and prattle incessantly about nothing whatsoever? To stitch enough handkerchiefs to dam the Great River itself, and bully one's body into clothes more suitable for martyrs than ladies?" I snatched up one of my cursed slippers. "Does this smack of magic to you? Because allow me to inform you, my handsome young prince, that this be not enchantment—it be work!"
With that, I hurled the slipper at him, not caring if I caused his decapitation. (I did not.) Marshaling what little dignity I yet possessed, I stomped down the corridor—challenging indeed with one shoe—and around the corner.
I lay awake for hours. The prince had no right, not one, to indict me so, and if I had held the slightest hope of the magic book's assistance, I would have climbed at once to my wizard room for a spell with which to punish him. Death, perhaps, or humiliation. A croaking frog would be nice, particularly a frog that retained Florian's dark eyes. I should keep it in a box and poke it occasionally with a stick; that would be satisfying indeed.
Calming myself in degrees with such pleasant notions, I drifted at last to sleep.
Catherine Gilbert Murdock grew up on a small farm in Connecticut, where she wisely avoided all sports involving hand-eye coordination. She now lives outside Philadelphia with her husband, two brilliant unicycling children, and a one-acre yard that she is slowly transforming into a wee but flourishing ecosystem. Visit catherinemurdock.com to learn more about her books, favorite reads, and lots of other great stuff.
ALSO BY CATHERINE GILBERT MURDOCK:
Wisdom's Kiss
Coming in Fall 2011!
Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Front and Center
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