The Outsiders    

   The Outsiders is a book by S.E. Hinton. It is also our class’s new novel study book. So far I have read chapters one and two out of twelve, and it has been a pretty good story. Our teacher told us that lots of people tell him that it has been the best book that they have ever read. I guess I will have to see if I can say the same thing.  

   One of my favorite things about this book so far is the names of two of the characters. The person who is telling this story is named Ponyboy, and his older brother is named Sodapop. (They call him Soda for short) The best friend of Ponyboy is named Johnny Cade, which people call Johnny cake sometimes.   Ponyboy, Johnny and some other people- Steve Randle, Two-Bit Mathews (who is always getting his two-bits worth in) and Dallas Winston (Dally) - are in a gang together. They do not do organized crime, but stick up and defend each other.   

   Ponyboy and his gang are Greasers, which is what all of the boys on the East Side are called.The Socials or Socs for short, are the kids on the West side who are rich. The Socs and the Greasers are enemies and the Socs often jump the Greasers. When you jump someone it means you attack them and steal from them.  I think the Socs are going to go to far one day and that will get the Greasers mad. This idea I got from the summary on the back of the book.