Seventeenth Summer

A gift for a fan of young adult novels.

I am 71 and about 56 years ago, at age 15, I fell in love with Jack. Actually, I remember it as though it were yesterday. Every girl I knew read SEVENTEENTH SUMMER that year and we were all weak with 'true' love as we lived this sweet romance. We were giddy in PE class! I never had a daughter but I have now given this wonderful book to my Granddaughters and they also loved it. Young people live so much faster these days that they might often miss this kind of love. Don't miss out on sharing this book with a young girl. Any young girl! Give it to them before they are 17. Let them capture the freshness of young love - and they never have to get in the sack! Let them want their first kiss to be gentle, lovely and one worth remembering. Ahhhhh I spoiled it. Yes, he does finally kiss her! You will love this book. When I read THE NOTEBOOK and A WALK TO REMEMBER by Nicolas Sparks, I thought of this book. Some people just know how to write about true love! All we have to do is read! Let me hear how you like it. PS - 6 Years later - I just discovered Maureen Daly died in 2006. Sad never to have met her. She is worth reading about on Google - she left a son and he should be proud that her book is still being given to teenagers by grandmothers and mothers who felt the true love in Seventeenth Summer. Maureen Daly did help shape my life. I am now 77. Terry Fenwick

I discovered this book after reading an excerpt in one of those teenager-in-love anthologies that Scholastic books used to market in their catalogs. Like many others here, I re-read this one every summer, and have for close to three decades (yikes!) Angie and Jack were easy to relate to--she's a college-bound girl from a middle-class background, he was the star basketball player whose family owns the town bakery. Angie been something of an outsider in town, having attended a private girls-only prep school. Jack discovers her almost by accident one day when he blows the paper from his straw out of his booth at the drugstore, and looks over to see where it landed. From there, it's just a matter of time until they're a couple. There is nothing cliched about this book, even though it has many of the common elements we associate with teenagers in love. It's rounded out by scenes of Angie's family life and her plans for college even though she's falling deeper in love with Jack and he with her.One caution: this book gets reprinted and re-released periodically with newer contemporary covers. You need to be aware that it is definitely not set in contemporary times, though. There are many references to society and mores of its setting--Wisconsin in the 30s--but the feel and experience of first love transcends everything. I think this one's a classic and a keeper. This is the only fiction book besides Gone with the Wind that I've kept from my own adolesence. Someday it will be my daughter's. On June 21, 2012, when she turns 17, this will be my gift to her.

This book is a great book for teenagers and adults alike to read. It grabs your attention with stories of the romance filled relationship that Angie and Jack share. At first Angie never thought she would have a chance with the fabulous, gorgeous football player from her high school. Well, after they graduate, Angie is in for a big surprise. She soon gets a visit from Jack and finds out that he is single and "hint hint" he wants her to go boating with him! She is so excited that she gladly agrees to go. She has the best time of her life and falls head over heels for him. As you read all of the hardships they go through together as a couple, you will be drawn into the story. As I read this book it felt as though I was there with them on the boat and in Pete's and McKnight's. When Jane Rady shows up I feel as though I am Angie sitting there drinking my Coke as Jack dances with Jane. As the summer ends, Jack and Angie have to face the fact that Angie is going to college and they will have to seperate. Just as you start to think it is over between Jack and Angie, Mrs. Daly adds a little twist to the story's plot.( You'll have to read the book to find out what I am talking about.) Maureen Daly has wrote a wonderful tale of true love and friendship. I recommend you to read this book. If you love to read love stories and love books that draw you into the plot, then you will love this book. You won't regret it. I promise.

I was assiged to read this book as an assignment and I thought I would hate it. As it turns out, I love this book! It is the best book I have read in a long time. I am 17 yrs. old and this book just appeals to me with the relationship of Jack and Angie. Every time I read something they do,it feels like I am there with them. Maureen Daly is a very good author and she really knows how to write attention grabbing books to thrill your mind. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. It's a great read!

I've had this book since I was a teenager--though I read it as much to savor Maureen Daly's wonderful writing as to get swept away in Angie and Jack's story. It was my custom to re-read this every late June or early July, through good times and bad times, including a horrible first marriage. Maureen once said Angie and Jack were fictional characters--but she created them with such depth and detail that they helped give me hope that real love exists in real life. I haven't read this book in several years--mainly because I'm too busy with my wonderful husband (my REAL Mr. Right) and our beautiful daughter (who will be 4 on June 21--the first day of summer!). But I think it's time to re-introduce the tradition, and I will pass this on to my daughter when she's seventeen. Thank you, Angie. Thank you, Jack. But most of all, thank you, Maureen. . .wherever you are:)