“The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton is a great book about friendship,

loyalty and family. The story starts off with Ponyboy Curtis walking

home from a movie alone. Then, out of nowhere emerges a group of

rival gang members, the Socs. The Socs immediately threaten and

beat up Ponyboy. In the town where Ponyboy lives, it is divided into

two groups and they do NOT like each other. Ponyboy and his friends

are called Greasers, kids who are from poor families. Socs, on the

other hand, are the rich kids in town.

!Minor spoiler! One of the most important parts of the book that

includes friendship, is when Ponyboy and Johnny are saving a group

of little kids from a burning building. Since they were believed to be

the cause of the fire, they quickly took responsibility together and

rushed to the kids. They heroically charged into the building to save

them from any harm and worked together to pull them out. Not only

did they ensure the kids would leave unharmed, they also looked out

for each other to make sure the other one was okay. This was very

important towards the plot and holds a great scene of bravery and

teamwork.

One of the friendships that is highlighted in this book is the

relationship between Ponyboy and his friend Johnny. Ponyboy and

Johnny’s friendship is unbreakable. It is tested many times throughout

this book. In fact, there probably isn’t anything powerful enough in the

world to break it. You will see that they do everything together, even

running away together and sacrificing things to save them from an

abusive household. Ponyboy and Johnny are more like brothers than

friends. The message of this book is that although you cannot choose

your family, you can choose your friends and your friends can

sometimes be closer to you than your own family. Sometimes, friends

are the only family we have.

Another fascinating friendship in this book is between Cherry and

Ponyboy. Even though the two of them belong to different

socioeconomic classes, they become fast friends and realize they

have more in common than differences. For example, they both enjoy

watching sunsets. No one else understands them like they do. It

taught me that anyone can be friends if they can find common ground.

Dally and Johnny’s friendship is an example of brotherly love.

Dally has been jaded by his time in jail but he always protected

Johnny and made sure Johnny stayed out of trouble. You will see that

he cared for Johnny deeply and that he will do anything to save him.

Overall, I would rate this book earned a 9/10. The reason why it’s

not a 10/10 is because I felt that some parts were a bit unnecessary or

long. I would recommend this book to kids 12 years and older

because it contains violence and death which may not be appropriate

for younger children. I hope that I convinced you to read this wonderful

book!

Check out The Outsiders from the Newport Beach Public Library!