The Outsiders

I love that this YA classic is written by a teen and a woman. The details are visceral, and it's interesting that the author didn't have first-hand experience with gangs of the time.

it made my cry! is supper good :D

Reader reviewed by Kyla

I loved this book.
I go to an online homeschool and I am given a list of books I have to read for that year. I hadn't looked over it since the start of the year and the middle of the year is upon me. I have another kid in the same online homeschool over at my house doing school with me. He has to read a book called `The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton' I had never heard of it.
One day, he is lying on the floor reading it, my sister is sitting on the floor next to him doing history, and I am on the computer trying to figure out what subject to do next. I decide to look at my reading list. One of the books on there is `The Outsiders'. I turn to my friend and say, "Hey, Geoff. What book are you reading?"
He looks at me and say, "`The Ousiders by S. E. Hinton, why?"
I ask him if I could read it for school, too, and he agrees and says he will leave it with me tonight, trusting I will keep the library book safe.
I begin reading it, not thinking it would be that good. I end up reading the whole book that night.
Geoff gets there the next morning and I hand him the book. He says he will take it tonight and leave it here the next.
I tell him, "Thanks but I read the whole book last night."
He stares at me wide-eyed for a minute.
"It was really good," I tell him shrugging.
"Yeah, it is," he agrees, shrugging.
Then we all walk upstairs and begin school.
Thanks to that 11 year old boy, I read The Outsiders.
I hope anyone that reads it, likes it as much as I have.
~Kyla   : )

Reader reviewed by Ashley

The Outsiders By S.E Hinton is a spectacular novel. It deals with challenges in life and how to over come them. Who's a good friend and who's not. The main character is a boy named ' PonyBoy Curtis. He lives with his two older brothers, Darry and Sodapop. Their parents died in an accident. The boys are barely making it by, but they have friends to help them through it. Their friends are like a gang. Always stick by them even when trouble comes. The boys are called "greasers"; they are poor and come from broken homes. And socs are the rich, "upper class' kids. They drive nice cars, dress nice, and they think their better then everyone else. My favourite character from the Outsiders would have to be Dallas Winston. He is the toughest greaser in their gang. Dallas has blond hair, blue eyes, and doesn't put grease in his hair. Dally takes pride in his criminal record. And wouldn't let anything happen to Johnny or Pony boy. I like his character because he is the bad boy. All the girls want him. He's mysterious, and tough. Acts like a jerk but deep down isn't. I would recommended this book to everyone who hasn't read it before. S.E Hinton is a great author who writes awesome books. Its interesting how she uses her intials instead of her full name. So no one knows if she is a boy or girl and would read the book. 

Reader reviewed by Ashley

The Outsiders By S.E Hinton is a spectacular novel. It deals with challenges in life and how to over come them. Who's a good friend and who's not. The main character is a boy named ' PonyBoy Curtis. He lives with his two older brothers, Darry and Sodapop. Their parents died in an accident. The boys are barely making it by, but they have friends to help them through it. Their friends are like a gang. Always stick by them even when trouble comes. The boys are called "greasers"; they are poor and come from broken homes. And socs are the rich, "upper class' kids. They drive nice cars, dress nice, and they think their better then everyone else. My favourite character from the Outsiders would have to be Dallas Winston. He is the toughest greaser in their gang. Dallas has blond hair, blue eyes, and doesn't put grease in his hair. Dally takes pride in his criminal record. And wouldn't let anything happen to Johnny or Pony boy. I like his character because he is the bad boy. All the girls want him. He's mysterious, and tough. Acts like a jerk but deep down isn't. I would recommended this book to everyone who hasn't read it before. S.E Hinton is a great author who writes awesome books. Its interesting how she uses her intials instead of her full name. So no one knows if she is a boy or girl and would read the book. 

Reader reviewed by DQ!:D

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a book the author wrote while she was still in high school in the south and it is roughly accumulated on her own life. The story takes place in a minor, rural town in the 1960s. The two chief groups in this story are the Greasers, like Ponyboy, and the Socs. The Greasers are deprived, humble, less educated and hard-hitting. They wear grease in their hair -- hence the name Greasers. The Socs are prosperous, know-it-all high school students that do corrupt things and still miraculously get away with them.

Ponyboy and his friend Johnny are the main characters; both of them are Greasers. They went out one night to sit in the park. During this time, the Socs came over and stared to fight with them. While they were fighting, one of the Socs began to drown Ponyboy in the nearby fountain. To save Ponyboy's life, Johnny kills the Soc with a switchblade. After fleeing the scene to a friend for help, they leave their town in arrears to go to an abandoned church far out of the way from what might become of them.

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One night, when they were heading back towards the church, they noticed that it was aflame. In attempt to go in and then back out of the now burning church, both get injured so severely that they have to go to the hospital. Later that night, Dally, a Greaser who is Johnnys role model in so many ways, robs a convenience store and gets in a misfortune. To find out the fate of these three, read The Outsiders.

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This book appealed to me because it kept me locked in interest. I hated putting it down and only did so when totally necessary. I would recommend it to everyone that is looking for a good read because the book is so tantalizing. Its truly a wonder how a sixteen year old girl could write such a fantastic novel. But S.E. Hinton did so and I am glad that I got to read her work. I give it five stars and a wish to read more novels by this author.

Reader reviewed by Witty

The Outsiders was the book I had to read for my 8th grade L.A. class, and I couldn't help but not be exited because we have a tendency to read books that I dont find interesting. As soon as I was handed this book though I had a feeling it was going to be different, and it was. This book has all of the qaulitys that makes it a great read, action, adventure, witt, comedy, heroicness, and much more. You really get to know the characters and you can sense a strong bond between the friends. This book has alot of forshadowing, and when you think somethings going to happen the story veers off into another direction usually adding another problem to the story. Because of this book I now have high exspectations for my class reading for the rest of the year, exspectations I know no other book will meet.   

Reader reviewed by Derek Williams

The Outsiders. Hinton, S.E. New York: Penguin Group, 1967. 180 pages.

 

 

Looking for a breathtaking book? If so, The Outsiders is a fiction novel by S.E. Hinton that is just for you!

 

The book is written in first person point of view and is told by the main character Ponyboy, so you are able to hear things through his thoughts, and you get to know how he feels about the rest of the gang and the situations that are happening. Ponyboy is a 14-year old boy who lives with his two brothers because their parents died. They are always trying to make sure that Ponyboy and one of his brothers named Soda do not have to go to a foster home due to getting in trouble or doing something wrong. The three brothers and their gang all protect each other from their rival gang known as the Socs. The Socs often times jump Ponyboy and his gang, who are known as greasers because they heavily put on a lot of grease in their hair all the time.

 

            The purpose and theme of the book is to show kids how when times are tough you have to find people who will accept you for who you are and who you can trust. Once you find those people you must stay close to them. The author shows that not all things in life will turn out the way that you want them to be. The intended audience is people who take what they have for granted or people who want to know more about what life is like for people in a gang or with troubled pasts. S.E. Hinton did a great job of showing that we shouldnt take the things and family members that we have for granted because some people do not have family members or have lost many people close to them. She also showed that the necessities that some people have, others do not have, so we should be thankful for everything we have. We need to realize when we dont think life is fair, that there are many others who would love to have our lives so we should be thankful for the life that we have now.

 

The book really made me appreciate how great my family is, and all of the things that I have and the resources that I have in life. I think that all people from the age group of mature middle school kids and older should read this book. There is a little bit of profanity in the book which is why I recommended this age group. There are too many exciting events to count! You are left on the edge of your seat for every scene, and after one great scene you sped right on to the next one. The adventures never end in this book! The book is truly amazing. You have to read it for yourself to find out if Ponyboy and his brother, Soda, do get sent away from their other brother Darrel, (known as Darry) to a foster home. Youll also want to find out if they ever end up getting rid of their arch rival the Socs. The book is fantastic and everybody should read it!

Reader reviewed by marsandneptune5

This is the story of Ponyboy Curtis who faces a
daily battle with the gangster related culture of 1950's America.
Ponyboy is a greaser and he and his gang have battles with the soc's.Put it together and its just a remake of Westside Story... but with a twist.One day, Ponyboy is involved in a fight with the soc's and
this results in he and his friend Johnny running away to evade capture
and further injury.As the two boys run to an old abandoned church to stay and hide. The boys change their appearances by bleaching their hair. When their friend Dallas, or  Dally, finally came to get them, they filled up
on food, and Johnny decided to turn himself in.But he doesn't.

Reader reviewed by Noblejot

                                                                      AUTHOR: S.E. Hinton

             THE OUTSIDERS

Have you ever been in a gang? The story The Outsiders is all about gang activity, violence murders, and a lot of mistakes. In this thrilling novel the main character Ponyboy Curtise and his best friend Johnny are victims of a murder done including gang activity. Ponyboy is a fourteen year old orphan who had lost his parents during a car crash. His older brother Darrel takes care of Ponyboy and his second older brother Soda Pop. There are two gangs. First, the Greasers.  The Greasers are low class teens who live on the east side. These young people are ordinary people who have (mostly) long blond hair thats greased back. The Greasers love coarse language and swear words. Ponyboy and Johnny are apart of this gang. The other gang is the Socials also known as the Socs. They are very rich and wealthy people who are clean and love drinking beer at a small age. Unlike the greasers the Socs are a wear of what they dress in. they like wearing dress pants and shirts. Not leather jackets.

 

One night Ponyboy and Johnny go to the drive in movie place with Dally, the head of the gang. At the place Ponyboy strikes a conversation with one of the girls. He then learns the names of the two girls, Cherry Valance and Marcia, also discovers that their Socs. When the movie is done Ponyboy, Cherry, Johnny, and Marcia decide to walk home. On the way back, the Socs and their leader spot the Greasers with their girlfriends. That night Ponyboy arrived home late and got slapped from Darrel the first time. Johnny and Ponyboy then go to the park so Ponyboy could calm down. At the park the boys were stalked by drunken Socs. When the Socs tried drowning Ponyboy, Johnny had stabbed Bob the leader of the Socials gang in the back with his pocket knife. The fountain that Bob was trying to drown Ponyboy in had no longer fresh water in it but was full of blood.

 

This story is an outstanding and realistic New York Times best sellers novel. All theres left for you is to sink your eyes in this fabulous book about solutions rather than violence, relationships, and about how people are treated among their class. I recommend this novel to any teen that wants to learn a better way to handle conflicts in a way without violence.

                                                                                    
                                                                               By: Noblejot 8-4