The Outsiders

S. E. Hinton

May 2012 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Inspiration for the 2024 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical!

Over 50 years of an iconic classic! The international bestseller-- a heroic story of friendship and belonging.

No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends—true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up on “greasers” like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect—until the night someone takes things too far.

The Outsiders is a dramatic and enduring work of fiction that laid the groundwork for the YA genre. S. E. Hinton's classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was first published. "The Outsiders transformed young-adult fiction from a genre mostly about prom queens, football players and high school crushes to one that portrayed a darker, truer world." —The New York Times
"Taut with tension, filled with drama." —The Chicago Tribune

"[A] classic coming-of-age book." —Philadelphia Daily News

A New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Book
A Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Winner of the Massachusetts Children's Book Award

Ratings and reviews

Thanks to the overthought characters and descriptions, along with the extremely predictable plot, you can very well tell this was written by a teenager. However, it isn't bad considering that fact. Despite the writing, the plot will still leave you aching to figure out if your predictions come true.

I REALLY love the book and I can't help but put myself in their shoes, in their situation and feel want it's like. But the only thing that ruined it was the people who made the paper book into a type book because I've found a good amount of errors but the ones that bugged me the most was at the beginning of every chapter, the first letter of the first word was missing

Outsiders was an ok book we read it for school I've never read a book like this before besides for school but I enjoyed it and it made me cry and books don't really do that to me even though I love to read it was a heartwarming book about friendship and I really recommend you read it

About the author

S. E. Hinton is the author of a number of bestselling and beloved books for young adults, including THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW; RUMBLE FISH, TEX, and of course, THE OUTSIDERS, which was written when she was just 16 years old. She has also written several picture books, a collection of short stories, and a novel for adults. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma—the setting of THE OUTSIDERS—with her husband. When she is not writing, she enjoys riding horses.