cover image Gidget

Gidget

Frederick Kohner. Berkley Publishing Group, $13 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-425-17962-8

""I'm not quite five feet but if it hadn't been for that year-round swimming I'd have probably stayed a dwarf,"" writes the teenage surfer chick in the upcoming reissue of Gidget by Frederick Kohner. The kitschy, American pop culture classic was written in 1957, hit Hollywood in 1959 and returns for summer 2001, brimming with tales of guys, waves, hopes and dreams. Kohner based the novel on the life of his then 16-year-old daughter, Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, the charming young thing who penetrated what was previously a male-dominated sport with gusto. She writes a foreword for this version, which has a splashy cover that will appeal to teens and older fans alike.