Book excerpt: A surfing, boy-crazy teenager comes of age in the summer of 1957 in this classic novel that inspired both movies and television and created an American pop culture icon. “My English comp teacher Mr. Glicksberg says if you want to be a writer you have to—quote—sit on a window sill and get all pensive and stuff and jot down descriptions. Unquote Glicksberg! I don't know what kind of things he writes but I found my inspiration in Malibu with a radio, my best girlfriends, and absolutely zillions of boys for miles. I absolutely had to write everything down because I heard that when you get older you forget things, and I’d be the most miserable woman in the world if I forgot all about Moondoggie and what happened this summer. I absolutely owe the world my story. (And every word is true. I swear.)” This is Franzie, part Holden Caulfield, part Lolita. The guys call her Gidget—short for girl midget. Based on the experiences of his own daughter, Frederick Kohner’s trend-setting novel became an international sensation with an irrepressible heroine whose voice still echoes every thrill, every fear, and every hope that every teenager ever had about growing up. Includes a Foreword by Kathy Kohner Zuckerman (aka the real Gidget)