The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York, New York: Puffin Books, 1967.

180 pages ISBN 0-51488-00599-5 $5.99

Genre: classic, coming of age, class struggle

Awards: 

New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Books List, 1967 

Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book, 1967 

Media and Methods Maxi Award, 1975 

ALA Best Young Adult Books, 1975 

Massachusetts Children’s Book Award, 1979

Ranked #38 on the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999

Ponyboy Curtis is on his way home from the movies when he is jumped by the “Socs” (short for “Socials”). The reason for this attack is simply because Ponyboy is a “greaser” growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the 1960s. Being a “greaser” in Ponyboy’s world means having your own code of ethics, being socio-economically trapped, and having an extended family. Ponyboy’s family include his older orphaned brothers and their friends which throughout the book guide and care for their youngest member in their own various ways. The pace of the book continues to move including an accidental killing, an escape/runaway, a fire, and a brawl while still quickly pulling the protagonist through innocence into an adult world he must define and understand on his own.

Historically, this title has been a proven classroom favorite and has earned various awards. The first-person narrative is moving and believable, the plot fast-paced, the issues complex and varied, and as a bonus the language is considerably clean. The Outsiders is an easy recommendation for great characters, coming-of-age, and class conflict collection.

Check out this site to see what happened to the real life Curtis house: Outsider book & movie website

A lot of students have also watched the movie that it can be still be pretty easily found. 

"The guy who played Soda was so cute and I really liked how you can kinda relate to all the characters to your friends in some ways. It's a neat book and movie." -Alondra, 13