The Outsiders

A landmark work of American fiction, now for the first time in Penguin Classics First published in 1967, S. E. Hinton’s novel was an immediate phenomenon. Today, with more than eight million copies sold and now available with a perceptive introduction by Jodi Picoult, The Outsiderscontinues to resonate with its powerful portrait of the bonds and boundaries of friendship.In Ponyboy’s world there are two types of people. There are the Socs, the rich society kids who get away with anything. Then there are the greasers, like Ponyboy, who aren’t so lucky. Ponyboy has a few things he can count on: his older brothers, his friends, and trouble with the Socs, whose idea of a good time is beating up greasers. At least he knows what to expect—until the night things go too far.

S. E . Hinton wrote The Outsiders, her first novel, when she was sixteen. I n 1988 she received the first annual Margaret A. Edwards Award for distinguished contribution to young adult literature. Her other bestselling novels include That Was Then, This Is Now; Rumblefish; and Tex.

Jodi Picoult is the author of more than ten novels, including the bestsellers My Sister-'s Keeper (winner of an Alex Award, given by the ALA) and Vanishing Acts. She received the 2003 New England Book Award for her entire body of work.