The Outsiders

"modern" book cover

Movie cover - CUTIES! Missing Leif Garrett, though. Darn.

Hinton, S. E. (1967). The Outsiders. NY: Viking.

LS5385 "Classic" - Realistic Fiction/Coming of Age

This story is timeless and outstanding, but what really impressed me - before I ever started reading it - was that the author is 1) female and 2) wrote this book when she was sixteen.  Talk about talent!

I recall the movie, though I didn't see it, because it had so many cute boys in it: Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, and Leif Garrett! I am really wondering why I didn't see it when it came out, as I was probably a junior in high school and would have been gaga about all those fellas. (Admittedly, I still am about some of them. [R.I.P., Patrick Swayze. I was and always will be a fan.])

Anyhow, having not seen the movie or read the book, I dug in and couldn't put it down.  The characters are so rich!  As a mother, I wanted to just get a big ol' group hug going for this kids who have hearts of gold, but are truly just victims of circumstance, doing the only thing they know how to do.  As a young adult reader, I am sure I would have connected with the insanity and unfairness of the clear class divisions and how kids were being forced into the boxes someone else had made for them.  

I highly recommend this book to anyone, young or old, because there are messages that are as apropos today as they were when the book was written. We can all extract a lesson or two from its pages while enjoying a really good read.

Jumped

Williams-Garcia, R. (2009). Jumped. NY: Amistad.

LS5385/Realistic Fiction
National Book Award Finalist

Okay, I'm just gonna say it:  I did not like this book.  It has an interesting format - it alternates chapter by chapter between three different high school girls' perspectives of events in one day of school - and the characters are fleshed-out well enough that you know them. But I didn't like any of the characters and was disappointed with the choices each of them made and the lack of character each of them displayed.
***spoiler alert*** ***spoiler alert*** 
 I kept waiting for one of these kids to do the right thing so that everything would turn out well, but they didn't and it didn't.  I was saddened that this was probably a very realistic portrayal of how kids might act and the consequences of their actions. What bugged me is that Leticia, who in my mind was guilty on many fronts, walked away from the events that day. Even when she knew the seriousness of what happened to Trina - apparently a coma and resulting brain damage - it was more a source of gossip than something she learned from.  She was the only one who could have changed the course of events, and she didn't, and didn't seem to have remorse.  When the teacher collapsed, Leticia whips out her phone. . . to call a girlfriend and gossip about it.  Why not call for help? And the same when Trina gets attacked - Leticia whips out her phone to gossip, not to call for help. Dominique has no remorse for putting Trina into a coma and causing the brain damage. No remorse that she ruined someone's life because her own life wasn't going right. And Trina, so conceited and caught up in herself and her perfection that she overestimates her importance and popularity and misinterprets how everyone interacts with you.  These kids really bothered me. And it scares me because I am afraid many kids have become numb to so much. They won't step in and do the right thing because it's "not their business" or they just don't care.
I was bummed-out the whole day after reading this one.  Truly.