S.E. Hinton
The Greasers and the Socs were real. And yes, they lived in Oklahoma, and yes, it was during the 60's. One particular teenager at Will Rogers High School saw the separation of these two groups, and the cruelty of social groups in general (think the rich v. the poor) and transitions and teenage-hood, in and out of her high school building. She also saw the need for more literature based around young, male characters.
And so when she was 16 years old and still sitting in chalkboard-graced rooms of Will Rogers High, a mere junior, she wrote what is still considered one of the most lovable, harsh, and even controversial novels in YA Literature (it's constantly being challenged). Under the name S.E. Hinton, Susan Eloise Hinton wrote a book geared toward the male adolescent reader (what self-respecting dude would pick up a book written by Susan Eloise?) and on graduation day, it was official: S.E. Hinton's book had been picked up, it would be published.
About a year later, The Outsiders made its way onto public pages and invaded public lives by pulling us into the "inside" of what it looked like to be on the outside; with its own, honest depiction of society, loyalty, love, education, choices....
Hinton had penned it from the Greasers' point of view because she herself had been more-so on the opposite side of the social spectrum, apart of the Socs club. She wanted to experience what it would be like on the other side. It's fitting that this is what arose from her exploration of what it means to try to understand someone else.
And so when she was 16 years old and still sitting in chalkboard-graced rooms of Will Rogers High, a mere junior, she wrote what is still considered one of the most lovable, harsh, and even controversial novels in YA Literature (it's constantly being challenged). Under the name S.E. Hinton, Susan Eloise Hinton wrote a book geared toward the male adolescent reader (what self-respecting dude would pick up a book written by Susan Eloise?) and on graduation day, it was official: S.E. Hinton's book had been picked up, it would be published.
About a year later, The Outsiders made its way onto public pages and invaded public lives by pulling us into the "inside" of what it looked like to be on the outside; with its own, honest depiction of society, loyalty, love, education, choices....
Hinton had penned it from the Greasers' point of view because she herself had been more-so on the opposite side of the social spectrum, apart of the Socs club. She wanted to experience what it would be like on the other side. It's fitting that this is what arose from her exploration of what it means to try to understand someone else.
If you're more of a bullet-list kind of person:
- S.E. Hinton was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was born in 1948, so that makes her much wiser than most of you.
- She wrote The Outsiders in 1965, when she was 15-16, and it was published in 1967
- The book has won many awards (and so have many of her other books), including the American Library Association's Best Young Adult Books award and she has won the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature award
- She has one child, Nick Inhofe, who has worked on sound production for movies like Ice Age.
- She used to want to be a cattle rancher when she was younger. Thank goodness she decided to write instead. (Not that we don't believe she could have successfully ranched cattle...)
- It has been made into a movie, along with Rumble's Fish, another book dealing with some characters in The Outsiders
Here is a list of books by S.E. Hinton. If you click on the book titles, there are multiple reviews, so you can get a good taste, perhaps, of whether or not you'd like a certain book. Happy reading!