The Outsiders

180 page novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton tells the tale of Ponyboy Curtis, and the ongoing warfare between the "Greasers" and the "Socs." Ponyboy lives with his two older brothers, Darry and Sodapop, and is a greaser, or, a member of an East-Side street gang. The Socs, (pronounced SOSH-es)short for socials, are the West-Side rich kid gang members. SPOILER ALERT!!! Ponyboy is really close with Soda, but has always had issues with Darry, and one night, he gets home late, and without thinking, slaps him. Pony manages   to get himself so worked up, that he goes to Johnny, another member of the gang, constantly being abused by his family, and they decide to run away. As they are leaving, they get jumped by a group of Socs, and one of them tried to drown Ponyboy. Without thinking, Johnny pulls out his switchblade and kills him. Now, they really have to run- they have no choice- they can either get caught by the cops, or leave. They hit their destination, and are there for about a week. Another member of the gang shows up after about a week, and they decide to go out for food. When they return, they find that the abandoned building they were in is on fire, and a class had taken a field trip there. Several students are stuck in the building, and have no was to get out. The three of them go in to rescue them, and the children are saved, and all made it out alive. At the end of the book, Ponyboy is the only one of the three that lives, because Johnny and the other member both were severely injured, and that ended up killing them in the end. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and recommend it to everyone.

***This book is not on the Ulltimate reading list- it is classified under the "Books your parents read" section