Book Review of
The Outsiders
Lynn's Review
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is considered a classic young adult book.
Published in 1967, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is set in Oklahoma. It is considered the first modern young adult book and set the standards for YA literature. S.E. Hinton was only sixteen when she wrote The Outsiders.
The Outsiders is also the book that the 1983 movie The Outsiders, starring Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise, and Diane Lane, was based on.
In The Outsiders, brothers Ponyboy, Darry, and Sodapop, along with their friends Johny and Two-Bit, are Greasers who find themselves in trouble with the Socs, a tough gang of rich kids. When things go wrong, lives are changed forever.
This book is one I have meant to read for years. It is set in Oklahoma and is required reading for many 7th and 8th-graders, but since I grew up in Oregon, I had never read it.
My daughter Gracelyn is a middle school history and literature teacher. She is in her third year of teaching The Outsiders in her 7th-grade literature class. She knows this book well and keeps telling me that I need to read it and visit The Outsiders House with her.
I finally picked it up in November. I can’t believe that I waited so long to read it.
I wasn’t sure what I thought when I first started the book, but by the time I was halfway through, I understood why this YA book is often required reading for 7th and 8th graders.
This book is a coming-of-age story. It deals with tough topics like gangs, death, smoking, family, and friendships, but it is so well done. There is so much to think through and discuss in this book.
This book also reminded me of the YA books that I read back when I was in junior high and high school. I don’t enjoy many recently published YA books. I have tried to read them, but they are not for me. The Outsiders made me realize, though, that I might like older YA instead of modern YA.
After reading this book, I am on a mission to go back and reread some of the YA books I read in school, as well as popular ones I didn’t read.
If you love YA books and haven’t read The Outsiders, I think you will enjoy it. And if you are like me and wish YA books today were like the ones published forty-plus years ago, you should pick this one up.
So many new books are published each week that we forget about the great classics in the backlist.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton would be a great book if you want to read a book set in Oklahoma.