The Outsiders

The other day one of my teachers was telling me about how the author of a particular young adult novel, was not only a girl, but also only 16 when she wrote a very well known book, read by teenagers throughout the country. So, I decided to read this book, that being The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

The surprising honesty and maturity of the writing presented in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is one of the many enjoyable features of this book. The book takes place in the poor part of a small town where the reader meets the "Greasers", the Greasers are the kids on the bad side of town, and they're forever in a war with the rich, Mustang owning Socs. The book is narrated by the youngest of the Greasers Ponyboy. Ponyboys parents are dead, and he lives with his two older brother Sodapop, and Darry. He's the only of his family still in school, Sodapop dropped out and Darry works to hard to have time to go to any sort of college. Ponyboys closest friend is Johnny, who is also part of the Greasers, Johnny is small and lives with drunk, fighting parents. When Jonhnny and Ponyboy get beat up by the Socs for hanging with "their girls", young, innocent Johnny pulls a blade on one of the Socs and kills him. This results in a major problem put on the shoulders of two young boys. 

This book is an excellent example of some of the difficulties youth face, and even though it was written in the late sixties, I found much of it still applies today. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has the courage to read a book on a tough and serious subject. This is an amazing piece of literature.