S.E. Hinton, who wrote this modern classic when she was 16 years old, comments: “The Outsiders, like most things I write, is written from a boy’s point of view. That’s why I’m listed as S.E. Hinton rather than Susan. (I figured most boys would look at the book and think ‘What can a chick know about stuff like that!’) None of the events are taken from life, but the rest-how kids think and live and feel-is for real. The characters-Dallas, who wasn’t tough enough; Sodapop, the happy-go-lucky dropout; Bob, the rich kid whose arrogance cost him his life; Ponyboy, the sensitive, green-eyed Greaser who didn’t want to be a hood-they’re all real to me. Many of my friends are Greasers, but I’m not. I have friends who are rich, too, but nobody will ever call me a Soc-I’ve seen what money and too much idle time and parental approval can do to people. Cool people mean nothing to me-they’re living behind masks and I’m always wondering “Is there a real person underneath?” This entirely practical stage adaptation deals with real people, seen through the eyes of young Ponyboy, a Greaser on the wrong side of life, caught up in territorial battles between the have-it-made rich kids-the Socs-and his tough, underprivileged “greaser” family and friends. In the midst of urban warfare, somehow Ponyboy can’t forget a short poem that speaks of their fragile young lives: