Raise your hand if you were required to read this book for English class. Keep your hand up if you found the names and slang made you giggle/chuckle. Leave it there if you found that, if you updated the clothing, names and the lingo, the tale is as relevant and gut-wrenching as it was when it was first penned in the 60s. Allow yourself to get past these facts:
- It was published almost 50 years ago
- It was written by a teenager
- It was written by a girl
and you will soon realize that this is a real story that can take place any time, anywhere. You can even substitute different groups for the sides in this book. Gangs. Police. Hate groups. Political parties. Social classes. Religious groups. Countries. This ain’t Silas Marner or Ethan Fromme; it’s not a story that you can’t relate to. Along with To Kill a Mockingbird, I think it is one of the most important books that teens should read. It speaks of the division of people by perceived sameness; how someone appears shouldn’t be their only definition; and how both getting everything you want and having nothing can sometimes end up with the same result.
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton was originally published in 1967. This version was published on April 20, 2006 by Speak. I bought this copy.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction Contemporary Classics
Ages: 13 and up
COYER Scavenger Hunt #48: Read a book off the Goodreads “Make You Cry” list. (3 points)