Kids on Fire: Introduce Your Teens To These S.E. Hinton Classics

The bestselling and award-winning novels of SE Hinton win new fans with each generation, and a few of the books have been made into box office hit movies as well. It’s because Hinton writes with great respect for her teen readers, never condescending, and making the real-life challenges and setbacks they face every bit as large and important as anything from an “adult” novel.

Hinton shows her teen characters enduring difficult, sometimes even brutal times to emerge a little older and a lot wiser, learning about reserves of strength and confidence they never knew they had. Teen readers can both relate to and learn from the characters in these terrific books.

The Outsiders (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $4.99)

A heroic story of friendship and belonging

No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he’s got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends—true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. And when it comes to the Socs—a vicious gang of rich kids who enjoy beating up on “greasers” like him and his friends—he knows that he can count on them for trouble. But one night someone takes things too far, and Ponyboy’s world is turned upside down…

Written over forty-five years ago, The Outsiders is a dramatic and enduring work of fiction. S. E. Hinton’s classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was first published.

“The Outsiders transformed young-adult fiction from a genre mostly about prom queens, football players and high school crushes to one that portrayed a darker, truer world.” —The New York Times

“Taut with tension, filled with drama.” —The Chicago Tribune

“[A] classic coming-of-age book.” —Philadelphia Daily News

“What it’s like to live lonely and unwanted and cornered by circumstance…There is rawness and violence here, but honest hope, too.” —National Observer

A New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Book
A Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Winner of the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award

 

That Was Then, This Is Now (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $8.72)

Another Hinton classic available in a great new package.

Companion to The Outsiders, That Was Then, This is Now is S. E. Hinton’s moving portrait of the bond between best friends Bryon and Mark and the tensions that develop between them as they begin to grow up and grow apart.

Now, it too is available in this great new package featuring the larger trim size, eye-catching new cover art, and all-new bonus material.

And, like The Outsiders, the new edition will also maintain the same pagination as the previous edition?making it ideal for continued classroom use.

 

Rumble Fish (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)

The classic YA novel RUMBLE FISH, written by celebrated novelist S.E. Hinton and immortalized by legendary film maker Francis Ford Coppola, now available as an eBook for the first time.

Rusty James wants to be just like his big brother Motorcycle Boy – tough enough to be respected by everyone in the neighborhood. But Motorcycle Boy is also smart, so smart that Rusty James relies on him to bail him out of trouble. The brothers are inseparable, and Motorcycle Boy will always be there to watch his back, so there’s nothing to worry about, right? Or so Rusty James believes, until his world falls apart and Motorcycle Boy isn’t there to pick up the pieces.

From the author of THE OUTSIDERS, S.E. Hinton looks into a world where hope is hard to find, and violence is a fact of life.

“Stylistically superb. . . . This packs a punch that will leave readers of any age reeling.”—School Library Journal

“Sharper in focus and more mature in style than Hinton’s The Outsiders.”—Booklist

An ALA Best Books for Young Adults
A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

 

Tex (4.5/5 stars, currently priced at $4.99)

From celebrated novelist S.E. Hinton, the classic YA novel TEX, now available as an eBook for the first time.

Tex McCormick, fifteen, is happy: happy living in a small town in Oklahoma; happy living with his big brother Mason; and especially happy to live next door to his best friend Johnny, and Johnny’s sister Jamie. But with money running out and no sign of Pop for months on end, Mason is getting nervous. He’s talking about leaving Oklahoma too, for good. Feeling adrift, Tex goes looking for – and finds – trouble. When happiness is impossible to find, how will Tex keep himself and his family together?

From the author of THE OUTSIDERS, S.E. Hinton’s classic story explores the true meanings of strength and vulnerability.

“In Tex, the raw energy for which Hinton has justifiably reaped praise has not been tamed—it’s been cultivated, and the result is a fine, solidly constructed, and well-paced story.”—School Library Journal

An ALA Best Books for Young Adults
A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
A New York Public Library Books for the Teen-Age
An American Book Award Nominee

 

Taming the Star Runner (4/5 stars, currently priced at $5.99)

The classic YA story of a boy, a horse, and pursuit of a dream. TAMING THE STAR RUNNER written by celebrated novelist S.E. Hinton, now available as an eBook for the first time.

With an absent mother and a domineering step-father, Travis uses his tough-guy exterior to hide his true passion: writing. After a violent confrontation with his step-father, Travis is sent to live on his uncle’s horse ranch – exile to a born-and-bred city kid. Angry and yearning for a connection, Travis befriends Casey, the horse-riding instructor at the ranch, and the un-tamable horse in her stable: the Star Runner. When a friend from the city visits with stories of other kids from the neighborhood facing jail time, Travis is more determined than ever that he needs to escape the life of juvenile delinquency he seems destined for. When the offer of a book deal comes through, Travis is hopeful that this is his chance to escape, if only his step-father will stop standing in the way of his dreams.

From the author of THE OUTSIDERS, S.E. Hinton once again writes about what it feels like to be unaccepted, and the power in being true to yourself.

“Hinton continues to grow more reflective in her books, but her great understanding, not of what teenagers are but of what they can hope to be, is undiminished.”—Kirkus Reviews

An ALA Best Books for Young Adults
An ALA Quick Pick

 

* * *

Tech Tip of the Week: How To Turn Off Your Laptop’s Touch Pad

* * *

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • More Networks
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap