Interactive Notebook
The Outsiders
English
8
Essential Questions
When and how does
a gtoup?
a
person develop their individual identity, while participating
.
What are the consequences for the choices
.
.
How can common stereotypes cause conflict and cripple a community?
What are the everlasting effects of stereotypes?
a
person makes?
How does an individual's environment mold their identity?
How can dreams help
a
person overcome adversity?
Can innocence be preserved during controversial times?
How can the ability to understand different perspectives decrease the verbal and
physical violence in society?
in
Outsiders still in demand wifh teens
Los Angeles Times
Directions: Answet the following guestions bosed on the orticle, "Outsiders still in demond
wif h teens."
1.
When was The Outsidersfirsf published?
o. 10 yeors o9o
b. 20 yeors ogo
c. 30 yeors o9o
d. 40 yeors o9o
2. When
o.
The Oufsiders wos first published, S.E. Hinton wos
An elementory sfudent
b.
Ateenager
c. An odult
d. A college student
3. Which best describes reoders'reactions to the novel, The Outsider9
o. "It chcnged my life."
b. "f wqs exhiloroted."
c. "she wos devoted to Tulso."
d. "We hove o 9on9 presence."
4.
Which 6est represents the plot of The OutsiderQ
o. Poverty in Tulsq, Oklqhomo
b. Biogrophy of living on the outside of Americq
c. Story of rivol gqngs and deciding where to fit in
d. Story of two young women teens trying to 9et out of Tulso
5.
Why did 5.E. Hinton choose to use her initiols insteod of her full nqme when
publishing the book?
o. She didn't like her nome.
b. She thought '5.E.' sounded more odult-like.
c. She didn't wont people to know she wos femole.
d. There wos onother outhor with the sqme nome os her.
Outsiders'sti‖ in demand with teens― LoS Angeies Times
9
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Jk toOriginal Article
'Outsiders' still in demand with teens
S.E. Hinton's nouel of pubescent angst, uritten uhen she ruas in high school in Tulsa, OkIa., rings true 4o years arter it uas
published.
October 03, 2oo7
first
| Hillel Italie I Associated Press
TUISA, Okla. - Beyond its cluster of of6ce towers, Tulsa is a city built close to the groun{ a broad clash of neighborhoods you can tell apart by how the grass
grows, bright and trim as a putting green in the richer sections, pale and shagst in the poorer spots,
TIlsa native S.E. Hintor\ a cult figure for 4o years since the publication of "The Outsiders," knows the diff€rence between the wild and the well-kept lawn. Her
multimillion-selling book not only helped establish the young adult novel but remains a classic story ofgangs at knife's edge.
Once a teen sensation who wrote her most fanous book while still in high school, Hinton is now 59, a dry-witted, sad-eyed woman wearingjeans and sneakers
a recent interview. As a chil4 she dreamed of writing a book she wanted to !ead, a novel that told the truth about how kids think. Forty years later, a lot of
young people still think she succeeded.
for
"I get letters from all over the world, safng, 'It charged my life.' Who am I to change somebody's life? It's not me, It's in the book," she says. "If people want to
find me, they can. They'll see a middle-aged woman wandering around the grocery store, looking to see what to buy for dinner."
Hinton drove around 'I\rlsa with a repolte! on a recent afternoon, pointing out the estates of former oil barons, an overpass where young people were routinely
beaten up and the movie theater mentioned at the beginning of 'The Outsiders." She is devoted to Tulsa, with its "bumps, booms and busts,,, typical of an oil
economy. The restaurants are great -- eating out is a favorite pastime -- there's room to ride her horses, and people both like her and leave her alone,
A 4oth-anniversary edition of "The outsiders" hasjust been publishe4 and Hinton, who would rather write than talk about writing, sat and chatted in the
of Will Roeers High School, the very room where she worlred on parts of her oovel.
lp
.s exhilarated," she recalls about that time. "I remember the buzz, the feeling like you,re buming up,,'
As a student, Hinton once received a "D" in creative writing, but she is now an honored alumna of Will Rogers High School, her picture displayed
behind a
Slass case to the right ofthe library, along with such other notables as musician David Gates and singer Anita Bryant, Hinton rarely goes to the high school,
students apparently still like her books enough to steal them, acclrding to librarian carrie Fleharty.
"I can't keep them on the shelves," she says with
a
but
laugh. "The kids keep taking tiem out ard 'foryetting' to bring them back.',
"The Outsiders" is the raw but hopeful story of rival garys that featu.es narrator Ponyboy C\rtis, the bookish greaser who ca11 quote Robert Frost; macho
Dallas Winston, blue eyes 'blazing ice, cold with a hatred ofthe whole world"; and lide Johnny Cade, a "dark puppy that has been kicked too many times,,,
Tulsa has changed in many ways since Hinton's childhood, with oil giving way to aircraft parts and healthcare as major indwtries. But galgs are still a
problem, school and police officials agree, and the weapons a lot deadlier than the switchblades carried by the teens in Hinton's book
'We have a significint gang presence and a set of issues we have to deal with, but that's part of what resonates with the kids about her book,',
says Will Rogers
Principal lGvin Burr. 'We try to get the kids to understand that they're not that different from each other or from kids who grew up in a different era,,,
Forty years ago, the battles were fought between the upper-class "Socs" (pronounced "soashes") and the lower-class -- and lowercase ,,greasers,,,
tangs so
bitter t}lat they entered tie school through separate doors. Susan Eloise Hinton, daughter of a salesman and a factory worker, was neither a ,,greaser,, nor a
"Soc" but more at home with the grelsels, who lived in her neighborhood.
"I just felt being part of my peer group so strongly," she says. "I was immersed in teen culture but not
take[ in by it.,,
writing stories for much of her life, including a couple of "pretty bad" novels before getting started on "The outsiders," inspired
after a friend
hers was beaten up on his way home from the movies.
She had been
of
Hinton didnt even think ofpublishing the book until tie mother ofone of her friends read tle manuscript and liked it enough to contact
an agent in New
signed her up, for "a small advance," and with a suggestion that she call herselfs.E. in print, so male critics wouldn't be turned offby a female
\t+\viking
"The outsiders" was published
in
1967 but greeted more as a curiosity than a breakthrough. "Can sincerity overcome cliches?" began a brief
New
httpi//anicleg.latlmes.<om lptlntl2O0T loctl03 /entertalnment/et-hinton3
york Times
Page
I of 2
'Outslders'still ln demand wnh teens
-
Los Angeles Times
review by Thomas Fleming. "In this book by a now r7-year-old author, it almost do€s the
9′ 12′
149:18 AM
trick.'
"It was overemotional, over the top, melodramatic," Hinton sa's. "But its vices were its virtues, because kids feel that way."
Hinton's first royalty check was $ro, sbe sa1s, and at one point 'The outsideN" lras in danger ofgoing out of print. But librarians and teachers made it a
besseller, and a landmalk a turning point in how literature was presented to students.
"Before 'The outsiders,' textbooks were used for English classes. I remember going to American Library Assn. conferences and they were clamoring for
something difrerent. We realized there was a real market for books such as The Outsiders,' " says Ron Beuhl, a longtime friend of Hinton's who worked with
her in the 197os when he was a publisher at Dell and specialized in young adult paperbacks.
For Hinton, fame at any speed was too sudden. She suffered from writerb block, needing three years to complete her next novel, 'That Was Then, This Is
Now," another story of street life in Tulsa that included Ponyboy as a minor character. Other novels, also in and around Tldsa, include "Tex," "Rumble Fish,,
and 'Taming the Star Runner."
Hinton has been married since 1970 to lter college sweetheart, mathematician and computer scientist David Inhofe ("He doesn't read and I cant add," she
jokes), and they have a son, Nick, now in his zos.
There was a seven-year gap in the r98os and r99os as she raised her young son. Before tlat, in her 2os, she tried teaching but quickly gave up. She became too
attached to the students and rersoned, "I could wdte and help a lot of kids, or teach and help a few, and go nuts.,,
According to Viking, a division of Penguin Group USA, "The Outsiders" has sold more than r3 million copies and still sells more than soo,ooo a year. It's
standard reading at Will Rogers, including in the classroom of Kim Piper, a gth-grade English teacher.
"There's a lot of poverty at Will Rogers, a lot ofbroken families," Piper says. "So kids here can especially identiff uith Ponyboy and his group. Ir's what
that age are thinking about, when they feel kind of isolated llom everybody else,"
ki&
Inevitably, Piper also shows her students the movie versiol of "The Outsiders." Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation, released in t983 and reissued in zoo5,
features an uncanny ensemble ofyoung performers who soon became sta$: Matt Dillon, Patdck Swayze, Rob Lowq Ralph Macchio and, in a minor role, Tom
Cruise.
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2
The Outsiders
Interactive Notebook
Analyzing Chapters 1 and
2
Essential Ouestions:
Twhut
of an environment (setting) mold an individual's identity?
"rpects
. How can the ability to understand different perspectives decrease the verbal and
physical violence in societY?
below,
we learn about the protagonists' environment in chapters 1 and 2. In the boxes
from the text' Please
answer the questions, relating them to the ptotagonisf, using details
responses'
describe the setting and thoroughly erp lain yovself in both
Whttasnects
of an
an env■
en宙 ronment mOld an indivi duars identity?Examples
What
aspects of
l
nt perspectives decrease the verbal and physical
Character Traits/Characterization
Directions: Choose a major character frorr the novel and find various picfures that you think
define your character. You can find pictures based on dress, style, personality, physical kaits,
and actions,
Example: a picture of blue jeans. Why? Ponyboy wears blue jeans.
ハ
͡
1
Directions:
1. For each word document the chapter and page number where the word was found.
2. rNite the sentence from the novel in which the word is used.
3. Define the word based on context clues. (guess the meaning)
4. Using a dictionary, write down the correct definition of the word and the part of
5.
speech.
Create a new sentence for each word.
Part of
Speech_
(Chapter
_---_________-
Page
)
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
Part of
Speech
(Chapter
.__,
Page
)
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
4
Part of
Speech_
(Chapter
.
Page_)
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
Part of
Speech_
(Chapter
,
page_)
Sentence frorn the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
Part of
Speech-
(Chapter
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
.
Page-)
Part of
Speech_
(Chapter
__.__________
page_)
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
Part of Speec―
(Chapter_Page― ――――)
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
Speech_
(Chapter .__.__-,
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Part of
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
page_)
Part of
Speech_
(Chapter
.
Page
,
Page_)
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the meaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
Part of
Speech_
(Chapter
Sentence from the novel in which the word is used:
Guess the rreaning?
Dictionary definition
Create a new sentence
)
Directions:
Write a letter to Ponyboy giving him advice about his curent situation. In your letter, use
five vocabulary words. Your advice has to be helpful and pertain to the character's situation.
7.
Freewrite; Bosed on whct you heqrd in lhe article, moke o prediction obout what The
Oufsidersand is going to be obout.
10
The Brond New Kid
By: Kotie Couric
Directions: Listen to the sfory corefully. Answer the following guestions.
1. Predict whot the story will be about bosed
2.
on
the title ond the cover (illustrotions).
Why do fhe children dislike Lozlo S. Gasky?
3. Whot arethe conflicts
in fhe story (internol ond externol)?
4.
Whot did Ricky Jensen do to Lozlo?
5.
Whot hoppened to Lqzlo ot lunch?
6.
How did Lozlo react?
7.
How would you hovereacted?
8. "A lody whose foce looked so tired
ond worn, she hod teors in her eyes ond she
seemed so forlorn."
l1
9. Whqt does forlorn
mean?
10.Whal does E‖ ie decide to do?
11. Whot guolities does Ellie
12.
portroy?
Whot is one theme in fhe story?
of o piece of literoture or movie or episode in reol lif e f hot porollels the Lozlo
situotion. Exploin the situotion ond tell how the situotion was resolved.
13. Think
t4.Predict how the novel. The Outsiders by 5.E. Hinton,will relate to the book The
Brond New Kid. Exploin.
1'