teens." Most reviewers have seen Seventeen as humorously truthful. A contemporary reviewer wrote, “Every man and woman over fifty ought to read Seventeen. It is not only a skillful analysis of adolescent love, it is, with all its side-splitting mirth, a tragedy. No mature person who reads this novel will ever seriously regret his lost youth or wish he were young again....” “As funny, but sadder than Penrod, it has the same insight into how it feels to be young.” In a review of the 1951 stage version, New York Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson called it a “humorous and touching story of adolescence…It has a touch of immortality that most popular works lack. Fundamentally it is true.” Other reviewers fault the book for not being realistic. “Real adolescence, like any other age of man, has its own passions, its own poetry, its own tragedies and felicities; the adolescence of Mr. Tarkington's tales is almost nothing but farce staged for outsiders.” Reviewers have suggested that Willie Baxter could be an older Penrod. Seventeen and Penrod are similar in structure; both are collections of sketches, and some characters and situations from Penrod are recycled in Seventeen: “[m]any of the characters are parallel...There are whole episodes that are similar…” F.S.Fitzgerald has mentioned "Seventeen" in his personal "10 best books" he ever read list as "The funniest book I’ve ever read". Adaptations Silent film Seventeen in 1916, with Jack Pickford and Louise Huff. Play, adapted by Hugh Stanislaus Stange and Stannard Mears, produced in 1918 with Gregory Kelly and Ruth Gordon. Musical comedy Hello, Lola, based on the 1918 play, produced in New York City in 1926. Radio adaptation by Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre on the Air, October 16, 1938. Film Seventeen in 1940, with Jackie Cooper and Betty Field. Musical Seventeen, adapted by Sally Benson, produced in New York City in 1951, with Kenneth Nelson and Ann Crowley. References External links Seventeen at Internet Archive An extensive review can be found in 1916 American novels American comedy novels Works originally published in Metropolitan Magazine (New York City) Novels first published in serial form Novels by Booth Tarkington Harper & Brothers books American novels adapted into films Novels adapted into radio programs