First Love by Gay Head (1963)

Sometimes it's funny.
Sometimes it's surprising.
Sometimes it's sad.
But always, always, FIRST LOVE is special!

Here are fourteen wonderful stories of teen-agers who found their first loves: tomboys and tough guys, plain janes and big wheels--and maybe (just maybe) someone remarkably like you ... (from the back cover)

Beany and the Reckoning Road by Lenora Mattingly Weber (1952)

California, Here Comes Beany

Beany Malone's father used to say that a trip was wasted unless you came back a different and bigger person. For 16-year-old Beany, who kept getting postcards from vacationing friends, it seemed as though any trip would mean excitement and fun.

Beany's big chance comes when she is asked to drive her little nephew back to his parents in San Diego. She and her brother Johnny set out in the old family Dodge and it isn't very long before complications develop. Among them:

Miss Opal, an eccentric old maid,
A horse named Quaker,
A ripe tomato plant.

One lazy adventure follows another and the "two-day trip" keeps getting longer and longer. At the end of the journey, Beany gets the surprise of her life--and has good reason to remember what her father said before she started out.

For more delightful adventures with the happy-go-lucky, heart-warming Malones, read LEAVE IT TO BEANY and MEET THE MALONES. (from the back cover)

Champlain Summer by Marjorie Vetter (1959)

Who would let an oar float away without paddling anxiously after it? Kit Turner wondered as she fished the blade out of Lake Champlain. But in a little while, she came upon a drifting gray skiff and a handsome boy sprawled lazily and unconcernedly in the morning sun. Kit, who only the week before had argued with her mother against buying a formal dress, who preferred sports to parties and dances, who disliked silly, "fluffy" girls like Elaine Lester, momentarily regretted her disheveled appearance. Bates Cunningham's poetic thanks for the returned oar made her aware, for the first time in her almost fifteen years, that perhaps it wasn't so foolish to take time to primp and fuss and be feminine. Of course, Elaine, her nearest neighbor, couldn't replace Marge and Babs, her sports-loving pals, and having regal Great-aunt Charlotte as house guest appalled Kit and made her feel uncomfortable.

Summers at Lake Champlain had always thrilled Kit. She knew all its romantic history, from its early discovery to the days when Admiral Macdonough built the fleet that defeated the British in the war of 1812. Surprisingly, her fund of anecdotes about Vergennes, Vermont, the Turners' summer address, was just the key that gave her Bates' companionship. Kit's enthusiasm for the area charmed bates and he asked her to be his guide. It was great fun touring in his cream-colored Jaguar, rowing on the lake, and picnicking near historic sites.

Kit realized that she was growing up--slowly. She began to look outside herself and try to understand others: her mother's loneliness when Mr. Turner had to be away on business trips; Great-aunt Charlotte's weaknesses; and even Elaine's good points. But it wasn't until a treacherous storm endangered Kit's life and the lives of others for whom she felt responsible that she really understood her own development into a young woman, and the ways and needs of other adults.

The historical pageant which Kit inspired proved that she had left childishness behind. "Brick Top" Kit could toss her head happily in the knowledge that her Champlain summer had brought her her first romantic interest in boys, her first compassionate interest in people outside her family circle, and her first appreciation of the heritage that had come down to her from her country and from her own ancestors. (from the inside flap)

Student Nurse by Mary Stolz (1951)

A Shining World

Gretchen Bemis was the kind of girl who usually set her own standards and if she wanted to be notice by a man--even in a prim nurses's uniform--she generally was. Not only was she popular with the medical staff at Sibert Memorial Hospital, but with her quick intelligence and easy going personality, she was well liked by the other student nurses--especially by the delicate Rosemary Joplin adn the studious Nelle Gibson.

Senior year at nursing school was an exciting time for these three girls, but most of all for Gretchen, whose great wish to fall in love was granted in a way that was as unexpected as it was delightful... (from the back cover)

To Tell Your Love by Mary Stolz (1950)

"Anne, I've been experimenting--to see how long I could stay away from you."

"You did pretty well," said Anne. "Four days." To Anne, loving Doug is no experiment. And yet when she is with Dough she finds that she has little to say. Why?

In the long summer days Ann, seventeen, discovers love wears many faces for her, her sister and her best friend Nora. (from the back cover)

Gaunt's Daughter by Eleanor Shaler (1957)

Cordelia hasn't seen her famous actor-father since she was a little girl, She feels she can never, never forgive him for deserting her mother. But the theater is part of Cordelia's heritage. At seventeen, she is already a promising young actress. And now she is offered her first big part ... in a play that will star her father!  (from the back cover)

The Hundred Steps by Holly Wilson (1958)

Marcy McKay grew up to the sound of ore boat whistles and the pounding surf of Lake Superior. Her father was first mate on the North Star and she was proud of his job. But her mother wanted a different life for Marcy and discouraged her friendships with waterfront families.

At sixteen Marcy was aware of the gulf between her people and those who lived up the Hundred steps on the hill. She knew the exclusive hill crowd in high school but was never asked to their parties. This didn't particularly bother her, but her best friend Jeannie was adamant. Why shouldn't Marcy be content with her own kind? She'd only get herself into trouble running around with a bunch of rich, spoiled kids. Their continued arguments widened the break between them, till Marcy found herself without any friends from the Lower Town, except Bill who shared her heritage of the sea.

When Gwen Ellis asked her and Bill to doubledate for the Peppermint Ball, Marcy was delighted. This would prove how wrong Jeannie was. But her joy was shortlived. She realized that Gwen wanted Bill and was using Marcy's friendship for him as an entering wedge. She was stuck with wealthy, thrill-crazy Walt. When the dance was over three couples piled into his car, and an evening of fun ended in terror. Before the night was over Marcy was to recall Jeannie's remarks and be inclined to agree with her--for she was in real trouble, torn between loyalties. Bill, steady as an anchor, held her on her course.

Then disaster struck, and Marcy's world was shattered when her father's ship was caught in a hurricane. Throughout the long night neighbors from both sides of town hurried to help the McKays. Marcy learned that people were mixtures of good and bad, that neither wealth nor poverty were yardsticks of character, and that the Hundred Steps did not divide the town--but united it. (from the inside flap)