The Ousiders - by S.E. Hinton

Summary/Overview: The Outsiders is a story of a family of three boys; Sodapop, Darry, and Ponyboy. The story is told from Ponyboy's perspective. The three brothers parents died just a while ago and they are poor. The poor kids around town are considered to be the "greasers" and the rich kids are called "socs". These two gangs are constantly at each others necks simply because of their differences in social class. As the story goes on Ponyboy discovers that the gangs go deeper than social class and at the end of the day they are all just human beings. It is an intense story of youths dealing with gangs and the tight relationships that are formed. It is amazing that S.E. Hinton began writing this book when she was in high school, but she was writing from experience.
Personal thoughts and opinions: I really enjoyed the book. It was a quick read and I really enjoyed Ponyboy as the narrator because he is pretty entertaining.
Would I teach this book: I would definitely use this book in the classroom for a whole unit. I know the book has been around for a while and that it is pretty popular with middle school students. It's just one of those books that could easily be taught in a classroom with no hesitation.
Quote: "He ain't a Soc," I said, "he's just a guy. He just wanted to talk." - Ponyboy