The Outsiders
Author: S.E. Hinton
Publisher: Penguin Group
Date of Publication: 1967
Format: Softcover
Page Count: 180 Pages
Cost: $10.00
ISBN: 0-14-240733-X
Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Plot Summary: Published by a teenaged girl in 1967, The Outsiders is widely considered to be one of the first young adult novels ever written. The book, narrated by a boy named Ponyboy Curtis, tells the story of a long standing rivalry between two social groups, the Greasers and the Socs. The members of these groups have a deeply ingrained hatred of one another, to the effect that violence frequently erupts between group members. When Ponyboy’s life is threatened by the Socs, his friend Johnny steps in to help and one of the aggressors ends up dead. Ponyboy and Johnny go on the run, setting off a string of events that result in the death of two other main characters.
Evaluation: This book may have been written over forty years ago, but it is just as relevant to today’s young adults as it was to those about whom it was originally published. Without parents to raise him, Ponyboy is left to define himself by his relationships with his older brothers and each of the other members of their gang. At the beginning of the story Ponyboy is young and dependent on his social group, but by the end he has formed his own identity separate from that of the gang. This is a deeply engaging story that deals with themes of gangs, identity, and power. In this book, Hinton was one of the first authors to successfully give teenagers an authentic voice with which to tell their stories.
Annotation: Ponyboy struggles to define his own identity in a society which considers him to be an outsider.
Links:
An Outsider, Out of the Shadows
Related Reads:
Breaking Rank by Kristen Randle
Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers
Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by Victor Martinez
