The Outsiders
by S.E. Hinton

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

The Outsiders is a book narrated by a young fourteen-year-old boy named Ponyboy Curtis. He tells a story of friendship and belonging while telling of his adventures. Ponyboy lives with his two brothers because his parents are dead. He and his brothers need to stay out of trouble so they don’t get split up. This would not be a hard undertaking except that they are in a gang called the Greasers whose rival gang, the Socials, are always looking for trouble.

Ponyboy and his brothers usually get along fine but when his older brother Darry hits him for being late he runs out of the house. While running away he runs into his friend and fellow Greaser, Johnny. Ponyboy and Johnny walk around the park so Ponyboy can cool off. At two thirty in the morning the park is pretty empty, but when Ponyboy says, "What do they want? This is our territory. What are the Socs doing this far east?", he’s not thinking the park is so empty any more. Ponyboy and Johnny soon find out what the Socs want, but what happens to them?

One of the things that makes this plot great was the theme of loyalty and belonging. For example Ponyboy is deep and watches sunsets unlike nthe other Greasers but he still fits in with the gang. Hinton does a fabulous job incorporating these themes into the story and sticking to them throughout the whole story. I find that many authors wander off the theme of the story and stick mostly to the topic but Hinton stuck to both.

Hinton does a stupendous job making a fantastic story while juggling many characters. There are a lot of unique characters in this book and she gets a picture in your head of all of them. From the hard dangerous Dally to the scared nervous wreck of Johnny you will feel like you know the characters and are watching the dips and turns of the book unfold into a stupendous story.

Hinton takes the topic of gangs that some people might not prefer and makes an extravagant yet believable plot that, even if you don’t like the topic, will make you adore this book through her writing style. Hinton starts you off at the edge of your seat and keeps you there the whole book to the point where you won’t want to put it down. She uses a lot of cliffhangers so the book is always just getting to the good part.

This is one book that I would recommend to anyone over eleven no matter your preferred type of book. I would say this is a must read, but it has some violence and language suggestions so it is probably inappropriate for anyone under age eleven to read.

~ reviewed by Kyle