4/5 stars

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Somehow I made it through junior high and high school without ever being asked to read The Outsiders. It’s too bad; I think I would have liked it even more then.

It’s a great story….it lives up to the hype. The lessons are simple to grasp, and I suppose that’s why its a favorite of junior high English teachers.

Beyond the we-are-different-but-really-the-same message–which is likely more pertinent today than it was 50 years ago when it was written–I really enjoyed taking the time warp back to the 60‘s. The lingo, the clothes, the attitudes, the nicknames, the cheesey one-liners. These are the little things that made the story memorable for me.

I‘m going to start looking for reasons to say “Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold” from now on.