"Greaser... greaser... greaser..." Steve singsonged. "O victim of environment, underprivileged, rotten, no-count hood!"
"Juvenile delinquent, you're no good!" Darry shouted.
"Get thee hence, white trash," Two-Bit said in a snobbish voice. "I am a Soc. I am the privileged and the well-dressed. I throw beer blasts, drive fancy cars, break windows at fancy parties."
"And what do you do for fun?" I inquired in a serious, awed
voice.
"I jump greasers!"
Annotation
An absolute classic of teen literature, S.E. Hinton's groundbreaking novel details a month in the lives of the haves and have-nots in an unnamed Oklahoma city. Since their parents died, Ponyboy Curtis and his two brothers, along with the rest of their Greaser friends, get along as best they can. More trouble, tragically, is on the way.
Awards
New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Books List, 1967
Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book, 1967
Media and Methods Maxi Award, 1975
ALA Best Young Adult Books, 1975
Massachusetts Children’s Book Award, 1979
Booktalk
You walk home alone and get jumped, because of your hair. Or because of your clothes, or where you live. Maybe if you're lucky they'll just shout names at you. Or maybe they'll try to drown you.
Johnny and Ponyboy, Darry and Sodapop, Dallas, Steve and Two-Bit - greasers to polite society, brothers and friends to each other. The rich kids prey on them and the rest of society shuns them.
One night Ponyboy and Johnny are attacked, ultimately affecting their lives and those around them in devastating ways. A failed escape, escalating violence and tragedy ensue, and Ponyboy finds that, though everyone is tough in their own way, they all have an inner life hidden from the world.
(Image credit: Penguin.com)
