The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton

Penguin Group, 1967, 180 pp., $6.99
ISBN 0-14-038572

Fourteen year old Ponyboy Curtis lives with his brothers Darry and Sodapop who are part of the infamous gang, the Greasers. With their long greasy hair and switchblades in their pockets, the Greasers always know to watch over their shoulder for their gang rivals the Socials, or Socs, but the Curtis boys always have their life long friends by their sides in their times of need. Life is basically normal and boring to Ponyboy until one night where Pony and his good friend Johnny get into a sticky situation with the Socs, which has them running from the “fuzz” or cops to a small farm town called Windrixville. They climb to the top of Jay mountain to hide in an abandoned church. Ponyboy and Johnny's relationship grows as they are in hiding. Then one day the boys were on their way out of town, With their good buddy Dallas (Dally) Winston who came to tell them news about home, they come back to a burning church with a few children inside. The boys immediately take action they run in to the burning church. Will Pony, Johnny and the children make there way out and survive or will the bodies of our favorite Greasers burn to ashes?

The Outsiders  was an exciting tale of friendship, belonging and loyalty. I was felt like I was trapped in the Outsiders' pages--once I started I couldn’t stop till the last page. When I picked up the book it brought me in with all the ongoing action and strong emotions of all the characters. I could feel the real friendship between the Greasers and happiness they felt with each other. The action started early in the book and didn’t stop until Ponyboy said his last sentence. I think that S.E. Hinton did a great job portraying her point and I thought it was amazing that she could capture all these boys' emotions, even though she was a girl only at the age of 15. 

She also wrote in my favorite point of view (POV), 1st person, I love when stories are told by narrators who were accually “there”, And I really liked how they explained how the book came to be wrote by Ponyboy (or in his point of view). This is what I call “my favorite book of the month (or until I find a new one).”

I recommend this book to anyone who likes action and a meaningful tale, of family friendship and “Staying Gold”, in the way of live how you want and keep your mind open.

~ reviewed by Bailey