The Outsiders By: S.E. Hinton

I first discovered S.E. Hinton in the 6th grade. I blame her for always falling for the "bad boys" (thank you S.E. Hinton). After I devoured the Outsiders I read all the other books that centered around those initial characters: Rumble Fish, That Was Then, This is Now and Tex. By the time the movie came out in 1983 (4 years later) I had read the book about three times. The movie was awesome, of course. I mean just look at the cast but, the book is what made me love those characters. The classic and timeless adolescent struggles are the major themes in this novel. I believe this is why it holds up as a teen favorite 40 years after it was first published. The main characters are a group of friends from "the wrong side of the tracks". The group as a whole and as individual characters struggle to find independence from their families while attempting to find acceptance within their peer group. The plot centers around the conflict between the poor kids (greasers) and the rich kids (socshes, I probably spelled that wrong). By the end of the story the characters have learned the hard way that maybe the two groups aren't so different after all. I mentioned during our class period on poetry that my favorite poem came from this book. It is a Robert Frost poem that Pony recites to Johnny at a very poignant point in the story. I will remember it until the day I die. I would like to share it with you now.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold

Her hardest hue to hold

Her early leaves a flower

But only so an hour

Then leaf subsides to leaf

So Eden sank in grief

So dawn goes down to day

Nothing gold can stay.

BY: ROBERT FROST

S.E. Hinton's novels are still selling to young readers. That was Then This is Now was in this month's Scholastic Book Clubs flier. It is easy to see why.