Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer. New York: Simon Pulse, 2002. Print.
Summary
Set in 1940s Wisconsin, Seventeenth Summer is a wonderfully descriptive, first person
narrative of a young woman’s first love written by Maureen Daly. Seventeen-year-old Angie Morrow, short for
Angeline, meets handsome, athletic eighteen-year-old Jack Duluth by a chance
encounter. They begin a summer of
exciting romance and personal growth through all of the facets of first love:
happiness, heartache and bewilderment.
Angie is totally preoccupied with her own relationship while observing those
of her two sisters and her friends. As
the summer fades, Angie and Jack face their futures. Will the romance also fade?
Analysis
Maureen Daly’s Seventeenth
Summer was informed by the author’s own youthful experience since she was a
college student when she authored it.
The theme of first love is timeless, and Daly’s rendering of it is
superb in its expression of feelings and its descriptive analogies to cycles of
maturation in nature. Daly conveys the
1940s American teen experience with sensitivity and awareness, providing the
reader vicarious insight into a young girl’s first romantic experience by using
a first person narrative. If there were
a weakness, it probably would be that future/today’s teens would stumble over
1940s references and they would be incredulous and perhaps bored at the
innocence and purity of the actions in comparison to modern overt
sexuality.
Its 1940s setting notwithstanding, Seventeenth Summer would still appeal to
today’s youth. It addresses issues which are normal teenage ones: parental
approval, reputation, and relationship anxieties. It is developmentally appropriate in that
mothers might give this novel to their teenage daughters to show them that
relationships do not have to start in the bedroom. As a matter of fact, Seventeenth Summer is listed, according to this edition’s back
cover as “A BOOKLIST 25 BOOKS THAT SPAN THE DECADES SELECTION.”
Activity
An activity which would engage readers and assess
their learning would be one comparing the vocabulary used in the 1940s to 21st
century vocabulary. Seventeenth Summer concerns first love in a timeframe which is more
than likely unfamiliar to today’s teens.
I would have students gather and list terms, phrases, and names from the
text and guess what would be their equivalents in today’s society. Not only would the students enjoy the
phrasings, but they would also learn them and be able to relate to them in
other early 20th century literature.
Examples: icebox (27), car robe (147), Nelson Eddy
(16), jive session (189) oxfords (92), knickers (34), and serial stories on the
radio (113).
Related
Resources
1. Greatest Songs of the 1940's
Suggesting selections
from an anthology of music which was popular in the 1940s gives teens an
opportunity to hear lyrics prevalent at that time which express the innocence,
purity, and heartbreak of first love.Greatest Songs of the 1940’s. United Audio Entertainment, 2012. CD.
2. The Truth about
Dating, Love, and Just Being Friends
Chad Eastham writes
advice for teenagers about romance and relationships. His modern advice encompasses first love as
well as longer relationships. Angie
could have used advice but was very introspective, very private. Her inexperience produced no words to discuss
her relationship with anyone else; therefore, Eastham’s book would have
provided information and assurance from the beginning. Teens who are interested in advice about
relationship such as Angie’s could benefit from Eastham’s advice.
Eastham,
Chad. The Truth about Dating, Love &
Just Being Friends: And How Not to Be Miserable as a Teenager Because Life Is
Short, and Seriously Things Don't Magically Get Better after High School and
Lots of Other Important Stuff, but We'll Get to That Later--. Nashville,
Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 2011. Print.
Published Review
Rabey, Melissa. “New to Me – Seventeenth
Summer.” Rev. of Seventeenth Summer.
Maureen Daly. YALSA The Hub. (2011).
Web. 8 Jun. 2015.
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