The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton - Moderate Fantasy Intermediate

I remember reading this book in seventh grade; I really liked the story, but now I appreciate this literature much more. S.E. Hinton was only 16 when she wrote this book; she was a teen, writing about teens, for her peers. This book can be related by many young people; if we were still at Muffley, I would have suggested this novel for the 5th or 6th grade class, those students could relate with these characters.The "greasers," a "gang" in the book, have long greasy hair, wear jeans and t-shirts, and eat whatever they want whenever they want. The other gang the greasers hate are the the "soc," who come from rich families and wear fashionable and expensive clothes. Through various plot elements, Hinton teaches the reader a valuable lesson; in addition, this novel will have the reader feeling many emotions. I really enjoyed this book and hope that teachers still have this novel in their curriculum and libraries.