The book I have read is The Outsiders. The author of this book is S. E. Hinton. She wrote this book when she was seventeen, because she was “outraged by the way some in society are condemned to live on the margins”. The Book is about an adolescent boy living with his two brothers in their area. The boy is named Ponyboy and his parents died. They are in a gang of “greasers” (they are called greasers because they wear grease in their hair and wear leather jackets) and they all look after each other.  They live in a rundown area where there are many greaser gangs. They fight against the “socs” who are the upper class, compared to the greasers. The Book is a first person view of what happens between them and the struggle of the gang.

  Ponyboy is the main character and he tells the story.  His oldest brother Darrel looks after them. Sodapop is the second oldest and he left school to work in a garage with his best friend. Steve is Sodapops best friend and works in the garage with him.  Dally is a hood from New York and has a bad criminal record. Two-bit is the biggest of them all and likes to crack jokes.  Johnny is the quietest of them all and his parents don’t care about him. Cherry is a cheerleader from Ponyboy’s School who becomes a good friend of his when they meet watching a movie.

  The book starts off describing ponyboy’s life but then one night he runs away because his eldest brother hit him. He runs away with Johnny and they run down to the park. A Gang of Socs Attack them and try to drown Ponyboy. Johnny Stabs the soc drowning Ponyboy and the soc dies. They go to Dally for help and he gives them a gun and a place to stay. They are stuck in the safe house with minimum resources. It then goes on to tell the rest of the fast paced story of what happens to them and their gang. This book is a glimpse of what life was like around that area back in the 1960s.

  I like this book because it showed adventure at a real life level and it also had some emotion. This book would be for a thirteen to fifteen boys age group because it just fits perfectly for that age readers. I would give this book eight out of ten.

                                 By Cian Begley.